Navico uses Qt for Lowrance HDS marine electronics range
Qt reduces costs and development time for marine navigation and information systems
Photo Caption: Lowrance HDS marine electronics range
October 3, 2012 — A leading marine navigation and information system for recreational vessels has been developed with the support of Qt. The Lowrance HDS range from Navico incorporates GPS, mapping and sonar capabilities that enhance safety and enjoyment on the water. Qt’s cross-platform support enabled Navico to reduce development time and costs.
Navico, the world’s largest marine electronics company, chose Qt after researching a number of cross-platform windowing systems, one of which it intended to employ in its wide range of embedded multi-function devices. Qt was selected because it provided not only a mature cross-platform GUI API, but also cross-platform support for multi-threading, a number of valuable operating system-related features (such as file I/O) and OpenGL support.
Commenting on his company’s experience with Qt, Matthew Hunt, senior software design engineer, Navico, said: “For our products, cross-platform support is extremely important and Qt provides this for all its components. This allows us to share code and development resources among many platforms simultaneously. Code reusability avoids unnecessary duplication and has definitely reduced our overall development time. Because of this, it has also reduced costs in terms of man hours.”
Qt is an established cross-platform application and user interface framework used in the automotive, medical, aerospace and industrial automation industries, among many others. Digia is responsible for all Qt activities including product development and commercial and open source licensing.
The Navico Lowrance HDS (High Definition System) is a multi-function device used in recreational marine vessels. Typical units include built-in sonar, GPS and detailed mapping of inland and coastal marine areas. Their applications include locating fish and identifying underwater structures; creation and marking of waypoints, routes and trails for fishing and navigational awareness and safety; and a variety of other tasks associated with monitoring and control of boats. The HDS range includes products with user interface displays of between five and ten inches (12.7-25.4cm).
A video describing Navico’s use of the Qt application framework can be viewed here and also downloaded here.
Further information on Navico and the Lowrance HDS can be found at www.navico.com and www.lowrance.com, respectively.
Editors Notes:
Full urls included in this release are available below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPetWxzDeZI
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/15312200/Qt_Navico.mp4
Contacts for Editors
Digia, Qt
Katherine Barrios
47 95 14 64 14
Katherine.barrios@digia.com
Pinnacle Marketing Communications
Andrew Town \ Hannah Hines
44 20 8429 6546 \ 44 20 8429 6547
a.town@pinnaclemarcom.com \ h.hines@pinnaclemarcom.com
About Digia, Qt
Digia, Qt is responsible for all Qt activities including product development and commercial and open source licensing. Since March 2011, Digia Plc, the Helsinki-based services and consulting powerhouse listed in the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange (DIG1V) has been the commercial licensor of Qt. In September 2012 Digia acquired the full Qt business. Digia operates in China, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and USA.
Digia, Qt has in-depth Qt expertise and experience from demanding mission-critical development projects and hundreds of in-house certified Qt developers. We have helped leading industry players worldwide deploy Qt-based projects in the desktop, embedded and mobile space.
Digia, Qt’s goal is to provide desktop, embedded and mobile developers and companies with the most powerful cross-platform UI and application framework. Together with its licensing, support and services capabilities, Digia, Qt operates with the mission to work closely with developers to ensure that the projects are deployed on time, within budget and with a competitive advantage.
About Navico
Navico is currently the world’s largest marine electronics company, and is the parent company to leading marine electronics brands: Lowrance, Simrad Yachting and B&G. Navico has approximately 1,500 employees globally and distribution in more than 100 countries worldwide.
