Just like driving a car

If you’re old enough, it was the Thomas Guide that provided driving directions, but now it is mapping apps on the phone. While GPS and road detail can describe how to get from here to there, it is crowdsourced data from all the phones on the road that determine traffic, best route, and arrival times.

SailTimer, a marine instrument provider, wants to do this for wind information.

While land-based stations can deliver live details, offshore weather forecasts rely on distant satellite imaging that generalizes data for large areas. To crowdsource, SailTimer has developed tools to pull wind data not only from boats with their gear, but also from any type or brand of wind sensor on NMEA wiring.

Just like driving a car…