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Noticed how offshore dredge crews went from paper charts to tablets in about 10 years
I remember my first job on a cutter suction dredge back in 2012, and the senior operator had a stack of paper maps and hand written notes taped to the console. By 2018, most of the guys had iPads running GPS software for the same job on the Mississippi River. The change came fast once the companies saw how much time we saved not digging through binders every time the cutter head hit a sandbar. Any of you old timers still keep a paper backup in the cab or am I the only one?
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oscar7433mo ago
That tablet adoption saved time but also created a blind spot nobody talks about - younger guys never learned to read bottom contours off a paper chart, so when the GPS drops out in a storm they're completely lost.
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alice_hart3mo ago
@oscar743 makes a solid point about the blind spot, but there's another layer - the older tablet batteries on those boats can't handle the vibration and heat, so when a screen freezes mid-dig, nobody wants to admit they packed the paper charts in the crew locker six months ago.
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