Question Less Tedious Ways To Log Dives?

[lowestdepths]

I find it soul numbingly boring to log dives with pen & paper or even most digital apps that require extended proactive input or sentence formation to describe parts of the dive. I have severe ADHD and am a lazy programmer so I loathe monotony and always think of how to automate stuff.

I understand that most modern dive computers log the coordinates, depths and duration of the dive: but what if you want to add more detail for your own memories as well as posterity and sharing with friends?

I also find the act of lugging around elaborate camera setups to be cumbersome.

These are my ideas so far to automate logging dives, and maybe even make it fun.

• A backplate/BCD mounted GoPro that all you have to do is turn on at the beginning of the dive. The entirety of the dive is logged in full HD or 4k video. Just bring along spare batteries and SD cards.
  My main hurdle with this so far is that I dislike a purely FPV implementation and would much rather have a sort of 3rd person view of myself/the diver. Could this be done accomplished with any special mount perhaps extending out from the lower back? An extreme option may be to also deploy the iBubble drone, but it's 1 more thing to worry about, transport and deal with so isn't optimal. An FPV GoPro in itself is still far better than nothing, especially if the mount is easily transplantable to your buddy's BCD (in which case you do get 3rd person shots of yourself).
• A series of voice prompt questions (answerable by voice, and automatically transcribed to Text) to describe the dive. (How was this dive? What did you see? How was the current? What was the most memorable part of the dive?) + a prompt to connect or sync the data/stats from the computer for the specific dive.
• Publish the full raw unedited video + answers to the prompt questions + the stats from the Dive computer to a web based blog/platform. I am thinking a Django app.
• Outsource the editing of the full raw video, to trim shots of interest and correspond them to parts of the blog page (such as the answer to 'what was most memorable). An AI model could do it, but getting human help on Fiverr shouldn't cost more than $10 per edited video and perhaps less than $5 if its enough videos at once. Have the AI or human video editor upload the edits directly on the blog. I'd review them and approve to publish.
• Social media and/or instant messenger sharing of the dive report/blog page. "Hey ma, look at me with whale sharks in ____ " < out goes the txt automatically on WhatsApp/whatever upon being published. Friends/sharing list customizable.

So when all is said and done, the system would work in a damn near fully automated way requiring nothing more than switching on the GoPro before each dive, and answering the voice prompt questions upon end of each dive (on cellphone or any device).

I'd highly appreciate any constructive feedback to implement these things, and welcome collaboration!

 

[Boarderguy]

Shearwater app and Bluetooth connection to your phone. Dives are logged and if you want to add details then you have that option. Dive logs are meh. Mine are logged ONLY because my computer does it for me.

 

[sea_ledford]

So writing a few lines of text is mindnumpingly boring, so your proposal is to replace that with an edited full production video of every dive that instantly posts to social media?

That seems like "Man, I don't want to study for this high school math test. I think I get a phd in physics instead!"

You want mindnumpingly boring? Try watching an entire dive shot from a gopro.

Easier solution: hire a video production team to do all the work for you! You wouldn't have to do anything but go diving... and pay them.

More realistic option: use a dive computer that downloads to a phone, fill in the blanks with a voice to text app.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Most dive computers do not log the co-ordinates of a dive. Some cameras like the Olympus TG6 have the option to list GPS location but as it is a drain on the battery I turn it off. GO Pro cannot record an entire dive on one battery or card.
All I do is upload my Perdix dives to my desktop when I get home. Each day I make a folder to store my dive photos and videos on. I can edit the photo or video name for location but often its just Panglao Bohol without listing the dive site name. I don't post to blogs or reddit or tiktok instagram etc. I do send pics if my dive buddies want them either by email or whats app. Video's I email or post on you tube. I don't upload logged dives to my phone.

not sure my dive buddies want to be used as a mount.

 

[lowestdepths]

So writing a few lines of text is mindnumpingly boring, so your proposal is to replace that with an edited full production video of every dive that instantly posts to social media?

That seems like "Man, I don't want to study for this high school math test. I think I get a phd in physics instead!"

You want mindnumpingly boring? Try watching an entire dive shot from a gopro.

Easier solution: hire a video production team to do all the work for you! You wouldn't have to do anything but go diving... and pay them.

More realistic option: use a dive computer that downloads to a phone, fill in the blanks with a voice to text app.

So getting up to change the channel on a TV is hard, so you want to create a circuitboard hooked up to IR beamer, keypad and write the software to make a remote control?

The idea is that once all setup, an automated system can require little to no ongoing effort. "A few lines of text" day after day, dive after dive is tedious over time.

 

[Marie13]

Computer with transmitter. Download to app on your phone.

Or don’t log at all.

 

[Marie13]

What you’re proposing is WAY too much trouble and much too involved.

 

[waterone]

I understand that most modern dive computers log the coordinates, depths and duration of the dive: but what if you want to add more detail for your own memories as well as posterity and sharing with friends?

As far as I know only two dive computers that currently log coordinates and one in my opinion didn't do well at all. The Garmin does it well and also lets you share whatever info about the dive that you want..if you are into that sort of thing.

 

[mcohen1021]

I have not kept a logbook since 1999 and I just started again bc of the shearwater software... I enter location, site and dive partner on all, and if I have time I might add notes on what I saw, what I wore / weights.

it just does not get any easier than that.

 

[Thrutch]

I dive a Garmin Descent and a Shearwater Perdix. I like the Garmin app better for my general log because it tracks location and each dive displays with a map. It also lets you add media to dives, a cool feature when scrolling through past dives. The Shearwater app displays more technical data, which I love, too. I enjoy having both for each dive.

I tried recording an entire dive from a fixed point near my shoulder d-ring a few years ago. Awful footage. Nothing is centered. The angle is usually off. Equipment gets and stays in the shot. You have to just hope the cool fish went into frame. Can't recommend.