almost missed it - statistics update

[Rick Walsh]

Sorry to revive a 10 day old conversation, but I was sorting through
old (paper) mail and just read something interesting in PADI's
Undersea Journal.

On 19 September 2014 07:53, Dirk Hohndel <dirk at hohndel.org> wrote:
> A completely different approach would be to work with the certification
> agencies to have them introduce computer dive logging as an alternative to
> the paper log book. As you learned in Brazil that's an interesting
> challenge as many of them are very much into this whole "you sign your
> logbook entry and your buddy or the dive guide / dive shop signs as well
> to make it 'valid'". If we can come up with a way to do THAT with
> Subsurface and have it be recognized by PADI or CMAS or SDI/TDI or GUE
> or... now that would be a game changer.
>

Maybe the game is already changing.  PADI's professional magazine, the
Undersea Journal (2nd quarter 2014, p108), discusses changes to
procedures relating to the instructor signing training dives.  It
notes that a signature is not required for a digital log.  The
relavent information is: date, time, location, depth, profile,
instructor name and PADI number, course and name of dive.  All of this
is supported by Subsurface.

The definitive text concerns changes to the Paperwork and
Administrative Procedures section of General Standards and Procedures
in the PADI Instructor Manual.  It reads:
"Please add the underlined text to the Documentation section number 5:
5. Have student divers log open water dives.  Sign each diver's log
<u>(unless it is a digital log)</u>"


Another idea if we want to work with PADI.  They have a online dive
logging and sharing website, scubaearth.com (and I'm sure other
similar sites exist).  I can't say I've been inclined to sign up or
try to use it, but I saw nothing in their promotional video or FAQ
saying they supported downloading information from dive computers.
They might see that as too difficult for them to support directly
seeing there are so many different computers and formats out there.
But if they could read the subsurface HTML export, or the XML file,
maybe they'd be interested.

> It's not all THAT hard.
> - work on making our git backend user friendly
> - create a public key infrastructure were people can create a key and have
>   the public key on a server
> - allow people to share dives online and to sign someone else's dive
>
> BUT - given how much harder this is compared to a paper logbook, given how
> many of the desirable dive locations have no or almost no internet, given
> how many divers are not exactly computer geniuses... I don't know how
> realistic this is :-)
>
> /D
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