Yes...
I have iPhone + StarMapPro + iMac - and I also have a Vixen SXW with StarBook. And an Airport Extreme base station.
I saw that too and actually tried... There are some missing links to connect StarMapPro to my scope and I'm not convinced the telescope connection actually works yet in StarMap Pro for a couple of reasons:
1. In the settings there is one labelled WiFi... selecting it, the app shows "no service detected" yet the iPhone is happily connected via my base station.
2. Selecting a WiFi network is only part of the problem - there could be more than 1 host service (Mac) to connect to within that wireless net.
All of this suggests the WiFi networking part isn't yet implemented in the released version, but might be coming. The means to select the service is also missing in the app, so... again I suspect its still vapour-ware at the moment.
3. The developer mentions connecting to Equinox 6 running on the Mac and using Equinox to run the scope on the basis it has the ASCOM drivers built in... it seems a very roundabout and clunky way to do it - and all very well in theory - but having downloaded Equinox 6 I can only describe it as one of the more useless pieces of junk astro software.
What he really needs to do is build in support in the app to connect direct to the scope via WiFi... no mac and no Equinox. Then it might be useful.
However all said and done... with StarBook, I have to ask myself why bother in the first place...
Had the iPhone out again last Saturday night at the scope and StarMapPro is quite a good substitute for an atlas. Used the iPhone for leveling the tripod and getting the polar axis elevation spot-on, using a clinometer app, and setting my lat/long in StarBook.
Several aspects of StarMapPro suggest to me the developer really does use it at a telescope, in the dark - which is more than can be said of Equinox or many other apps where clearly the developer never left his study let alone went near a scope in the dark.
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