Geschiedenis EN - Stentec Navigation

History
Since 1983 Stentec is creating innovative products. The specialism was mostly on the aero- and hydrodynamics which were used to develop windmills and windmill parks. Around 1990 the Stentec team released their first real Sail Simulator to the water sport market. This very realistic sailing simulator for Windows is used massively as a game and teaching aid. Throughout the years Sail Simulator has become even more beautiful grafically and realistic in gameplay.

Thanks to Sail Simulator, Stentec came in contact with the water sports world and in the late 1990s they started work on digital nautical navigation. At the start, the now well-known navigation software WinGPS was only used in combination with the DKW 1800 series charts (Dutch coastal waters) or with self-scanned charts.

Stentec has since grown to a worthy water sports company that won two prices for innovation with WinGPS at the HISWA, with a broad selection of digital water charts.

Click on the blocks for a summary of the event.

1983

Stentecs founding

Founded by the owner Ir. Wouter Kuik. Stentec is short for 'Stromings Energie Technologie', which you can translate to 'Stream Energy Technology'. This is the discipline where most of the applications and products from Stentec are based on.

The knowledge of the aerodynamics, aeroelasticity and design technology were used to help the upcoming industry of development of wind turbines for electricity generation in the Netherlands. With a team of engineers Stentec became the 'Consulting Engineering Bureau Stentec' in the 1990s and 2000s. They executed several development projects for both inland as international manufacturers of wind turbines, such as Lagerwey and DeWind.

1990

Release Sail Simulator 1.0

Using the wind turbine technology, development of the first Sail Simulator started. A physical realistic simulation program for sailors. The program could only be used on compuers with an Intel 8086 processor with an added Intel 8087 computational processor. This was the beginning of the Stentecs software department.

1993

Release Sail Simulator 2.0

1994

Release WinGPS 1.0

The first edition of WinGPS was released by Jos Verbeek. This version was offered to costumers via his own website and was free to download.

1996

Release Sail Simulator 3.0

This version of the Sail Simulator was very popular, mostly because you could purchase a 'control unit' with it. This unique joystick was designed by a student for a graduation project and was eventually widely used to make the digital sailing even more realistic.

1996

Release Laser Match Racing

Not long after the release of the Sail Simulator 3.0 it became possible to organize online regattas with Laser Match Racing. This way people could race against each other with a Laser, of course with the well-known control unit.

1999

First release DKW charts: DKW 1800 series on CD-ROM

With this first release Stentec started the supply of Digital Charts. The term ‘DKW’ comes from the Dutch translation: 'Digitale Kaarten voor de Watersport' which translates to 'Digital Charts for the Water sports'.

2000

WinGPS was purchased from Jos Verbeek

Up until this moment, Stentec was only responsible for helpdesk questions from WinGPS users. With the user base increasing, the need for support rose. Resulting in Jos Verbeek deciding to sell WinGPS to Stentec

2000

Release WinGPS 3.0

The newest version of WinGPS is presented, and released at the HISWA.

2000

BaZ update service starts

BaZ is short for ‘Berichten aan Zeevarenden’, which translates to : Messages to Sailors. These updates include all important information the for onboard navigation. The BaZ are processed per location and made visable on the digital water charts DKW 1800 series. From now on, the updates are available as weekly downloads.

2001

Founding of Stentec Software B.V.

After the first release of the DKW 1800 series and the purchase of WinGPS, the software department got rebranded as Stentec Software B.V.

2001

Release Sail Simulator 4.0

The Sail Simulator 4.0, with its graphical improvements, became an even more realistic sailing experience.

2002

Online shop becomes the most important sales channel for Stentec Software

Large-scale dealer sales for Sail Simulator took place in Germany, France and Italy. The direct sales for the Netherlands was mostly via telephone, fax and on fairs. With internet becoming more main stream, the marketing strategy changed. While dealer sales kept growing in the Netherlands, there were even more online purchases. The increasing numbers of products, automatic order processing, cheaper downloadable products and the increasing interest for our digital navigation contributed to Stentecs further growth.

2003

Release Sail Simulator 4.2

Sail Simulator 4.2 came with two extra ships and sceneries. The catamaran and America’s Cup Race were added.

2004

Release WinGPS 4

With the new ANWB CD-ROMs in DKW2 format and USB GPS receivers, Stentec was now selling complete navigational systems for Windows laptops and onboard PCs.

2005

Release WinGPS 4 Mobile Navigator

Mobile Navigator is developed for the PocketPC in combination with Windows Mobile operating system. This was the first step to navigating on a mobile device, using a.o. the first HTC smartphones.

2006

Release WinGPS 4 Pro

With this release WinGPS was able to support NMEA data, enabling the connection of AIS devices.

2008

WinGPS 4 Voyager wins HISWA Innovation award

Six products are in the race to win the HISWA innovation award 2008. At March 4th, opening day of HISWA, the jury pronounces the winner: WinGPS 4 Voyager.

2009

Release digital Imray series

With the new DKW Imray series the coverage area of the DKW charts is now expanded to the Mediterranean, European Atlantic coast and the Caribbean.

2010

Release Sail Simulator 5.0

This very realistic Sail Simulator lets the water splash out of your monitor and gives you the ultimate sailing experience. You can easily set up online regattas, which are sailed daily by people from all over the world. The new ranking system per class, including the most fanatic sailors, is presented on www.sailsimulator.com.

2011

WinGPS 5 wins HISWA Innovation award

On January 20th 2011 the jury nominated five products for the HISWA innovation award 2011. Stentec was noted with their newest version of the WinGPS software. Especially because of the new innovative route planner for the Dutch inland waterways. During the official opening at HISWA, the jury pronounces the winner: WinGPS 5.

2012

Stentec releases first self produced chart set

After years of experience with the several DKW charts, it was time for Stentec to develop their own charts. It began with the inland water chart for the Netherlands and is has grown to a cover all the inland waters of Belgium, France, Germany until Prague and the Donau until the Black Sea.

2014