IALA Lights

A mariner should know all recommendations of the IALA lighting and buoyage system. Have you ever had problems identifying lighthouse beams at night or imagining how an abbreviation used on maps would look like in real life? If yes, this utility is what you need.

The utility has two major working modes. In one you set the parameters of the light source and the application tells you the corresponding abbreviation. In the other mode you can enter the abbreviation from the navigational chart and the application shows you how it would look like at night.

Selectable characteristics include:

• Fixed
• Occulting
• Group occulting
• Composite group occulting
• Isophase
• Flashing
• Group flashing
• Composite group flashing
• Long flashing
• Quick, very quick, ultra quick
• Group quick, group very quick
• Group quick + long, group very quick + long
• Interrupted quick, interrupted very quick, interrupted ultra quick
• Morse
• Fix + flashing
• Alternating

Screen controls for selecting the number of flashes in groups, composite groups or the characters for a Morse code are enabled or disabled depending on the selected phase characteristic.

When the selected light phase belongs to a cardinal or lateral buoy then the light-house tower is replaced by the corresponding cardinal or lateral buoy on the drawing.

When entering an abbreviation from the chart the height of the light-house or the range of visibility are optional and may be omitted.

Please make sure you check out our short screen-cast presentation for a quick introduction.