ABSTRACT
The software is developed in an object oriented programming environment, making use of Java.
2.2 Operational use
The graphical user interface (GUI), see Figure 1, allows an easy selection of the desired ship, represented by her beam and length. The user specifies the loading condition, namely the draft at the fore and aft perpendicular and optionally the metacentric height. Furthermore, the time of departure, the route to follow and the speed of the ship along this route – either through water or over ground – are inserted. Additionally, a number of travels can be specified before and after the desired time of departure to create a tidal window, based on a number of deterministic and/or probabilistic criteria. The menu allows specifying the data source (locally stored data, remote data) of each environment condition (tidal elevations, current, waves, bottom) separately. Recent predictions and measurements of tide, waves and current are stored in a remote database on a server that can be connected by the user, while a local database may contain long-term predictions, e.g. astronomic tide data.
