Zoomed out view of all vessels on Lake Michigan

Zommed in to just see Muskegon and Grand Haven

Zoomed in even further to just Grand Haven

Vessel details

One of my favorite capabilities is seeing all the boats around me.  When you zoom out to cover a large area, vessels relatively close together are grouped as a single blue circle with a number showing the total vessels in that area.  Above, the first image shows all of Lake Michigan and the boats on the lake.  I then zoomed into the Muskegon and Grand Haven area on the east side of the lake towards the middle (shown with a 5 in the first image).  That zoomed in view is what’s shown in the second image; here you can see three of the boats are in Muskegon and two are in Grand Haven.  Further zooming into Grand Haven, as I’ve done in the third image, shows the individual vessels in Grand Haven.  Lastly, clicking on a boat as I did in the fourth image, brings up information about the boat and a picture of the boat if the user has provided one.  From what I’ve observed, Nebo displays all vessels it knows about; not just the vessels with which you’re friends.

My messages within Nebo

Sample branding abilities

I’m a member of the America’s Great Loop Cruising Association (AGLCA) and that boater I talked about up top is also an AGLCA member.  Loopers, as boaters on the loop are referred to, frequently meet up with other loopers along the way.  Nebo’s ability to quickly show vessels around you is really helpful in finding others in an organization or group.  Nebo has found strong adoption among loopers.  I’ve found this very helpful, as it has meant most of the time when I spot an AGLCA burgee on the bow of a boat I’m able to find them in Nebo.  Friend functionality is built in where you can add other boaters you know are using Nebo or invite contacts to begin using Nebo.  Once added as a friend you will be able to see your friend’s activity appear in the activity feed area as well as being able to message them from the “My Messages” section.  Nebo is already working with Sunsail’s charter fleet in the Mediterranean.   Currently, there’s no functionality to automatically add members of a group, verify membership, or otherwise interact with the memberships of Yacht Clubs, Cruising Clubs, and other organizations but Nebo is working on developing those capabilities.

 

Opportunities

Map view with labels

Satellite view, but no labels

The two screenshots above show the two mapping options.  Those are Google Maps with cities, towns, and roads appearing or satellite view with no labels at all.  I’d like to see an option for the satellite view to have some labels present as well as marine cartography.

I’m also concerned that Nebo overlaps with some of the AIS tracking services out there and serves to provide one more app to check to find the boats around you.  If a boat has AIS on board but isn’t using Nebo you would find their position on AISHub or Marine Traffic.  If a boat doesn’t have AIS but is using Nebo you would find their position on Nebo.  Nebo is considering a premium version and perhaps that would offer the ability to overlay AIS data from one of the AIS tracking services.  With AIS data available in Nebo, the user would be able to see both Nebo tracked vessels and vessels tracked via AIS on a single screen.   On the flip side, perhaps Nebo could send updates to those tracking services.  Marine Traffic currently supports something similar via their own On Course app.