Data currently being received in
Scarborough - Click on the graph for a map
Introduction I
wished to dynamically graph the reception of AIS signals I was
receiving in order to compare the performance of changes I made to
aerials and/or receivers. Fortunately ShipPlotter provides a COM/OLE
interface which enables a snapshot to be taken at timed intervals.
Quickstart
Click the Download button below, click Open,
enable macros and watch the graph grow as long as ShipPlotter is
running.
Click to download ShipPlotter.xls [4th June 2008] - (Messages from only one aerial
will
be displayed)
Features
Autoranging graphical display of message rate, no of ships and max
range at user defined intervals
Extracts any data available from the ShipPlotter interface directly
into spreadsheets
Automatically updates at user defined intervals
Automatic Upload of
graph & ship listing to a Website at
preset
intervals (Click Upload
to find how)
Can use Excel's ability to remap data to user preferences using sort,
filter or summarise using pivot tables.
Options
On the Command Bar immediately before the Help, you will see another
dropdown list called ShipPlotter.
If you click on ShipPlotter > Options the box below will appear.
Refresh is
the frequency Shipplotter will be polled, set to 0 stop
polling. Graph Range
is the number of horizontal points on the graph, when reached the graph
will start scrolling. MsgCount
Tick Process
to start updating the graph List Tick Process
to start updating
the List sheet which also updates the Summary sheet. Upload Leave
unticked unless you wish to Upload
to a Web Server
Tabs
Clicking the tabs displays the 5 worksheets I've currently set up. MsgCountor Graph
contains the Time, Message Count, Ships & Maximum Range as well
as the graph generated from this data. List
contains all the individual ships data available from
Shipplotter. Summary
contains a couple of small Pivot Tables and a pivot graph obtained from
the data on the List worksheet.
I've done this to get you started with pivot tables, they are so
flexible and quick to change that I couln't possible set up what each
person would actually find useful. HtmlA html
page will be created if Upload is ticked and the server is blank. See
the Upload
page for more details. Xml
is currently
unused
Keep your eye on the message bar as it should let you know what's going
on.
Connection to ShipPlotter Excel should attempt to connect to ShipPlotter every 5
seconds
if ShipPlotter is not running or has been stopped after the
spreadsheet has been opened.
Summary Worksheet
Contains sample pivot tables - for you to play with.
To change the layout:-
Click on any cell within the summary table
Right click and select wizard
Click on Layout
Drag the Headings into the table & Finish
If you double click
on any total you will get a new sheet created containing
only the rows off the List sheet making up the total. Restrictions
As I use Windows 98 and Excel 97 with ShipPlotter v
10.9, I do not know for
certain it will work OK on later platforms, but I believe I have not
used any "features" that are not upwards compatible.
Other users report no problems with 2000, XP & Vista and no
problems with Excel2007.
Bugs
I would welcome any comments at
Although I have produced it for my own use, I will try any fix any
problems but can't guarantee a fix by return! I'm NOT a professional
software engineer.
