Chart Apps

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Larry Patrick

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2008
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23 Venture
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Sea -Jo
Have a Garmin plotter at helm. Been using Active Captain on I-Pad,wondering what are some favorite charting apps and are they much different than Active Captain for I-Pad?
 
Just out of curiosity, what are you running Active Capn on? Tablet, phone, whatever?

Looking at Active Cpn, I only found a list of commercial software for Windoz, Mac, Linux and I-phone. So what program do you use? According to their website, the Active Cpn software is no longer being supported.

They don't mention OpenCpn which is the equivalent of those listed, but it's free for PC, Linux, Mac and Android. Here's their home page: OpenCpn. It's the one I use.

Boris
 
I use MX Mariner. It is available for Android (don't know about iThings). I tried the OpenCPN beta for android. While OpenCPN can do raster and vector charts (and possibly more formats) MX Mariner only does raster charts. However, IME MX Mariner performs a lot faster than the Android version of OpenCPN on the devices I own. OpenCPN was painfully slow (maybe it is better on a laptop). MX Mariner will also display Active Captain markers on the chart and can access the Active Captain database.

The stand alone version of Active Captain is ok. The interface is not as intuitive as it could be and the offline maps are not very good.

MX Mariner gives you both the NOAA (and some other countries) charts plus the Active Captain marker information all in one app. I rarely use the Active Captain app.
 
That's interesting. I do know that OpenCpn runs well on the HP PC with an I-5 processor. With the desktop PC which has an older dual Intel CPU, opening and scaling charts is slow. It certainly is a program that has a lot of navigational capabilities, such as AIS, routing, etc. I'll have to try OpenCpn and MX Mariner on the ASUS Android tablet we have.

What device do you run MX Mariner on?

Boris
 
I have MX Mariner on my LG Phone, an 8" quad core tablet, and a 10" octo core tablet. The tablets are both relatively inexpensive off brand models. The phone and the 8" tablet I have have for a couple of years. The 10" tablet I just got.
 
Garmin BlueCharts is what im using for I-Pad. Downloaded Active Captain and Blue Charts when first got I-Pad about a year ago. So my recollection may be fuzzy. Got the boat this past spring so never used apps after getting them for quite a while. I think I had to get Blue Charts to use Active Captain? Not sure if Active Captain is useable without it? I was just curious what people are using and are happy with,and how different are the other choices?
 
If you're interested in tablet navigation programs, here's a review of 5 of them that are available: 5 Android Apps for Boat Charts and Navigation. They're all cheap and available through Google Store. I didn't download any of them, because Google wanted access to the whole tablet, including my e-mail. They may want that but they don't need it.

I downloaded OpenCpn onto Judy's tablet. It works fine. I also downloaded 2 Gb of NOAA charts onto the removable SDD(?) 32 GB card. It worked well. When you scroll from the east coast to the west coast, there's a time lag to access the new charts (<1 min,), but if you stay in the same place, it scrolls about the same as the PC. So, I'll try it on our next trip.

The tablet is a quad-core running Android 4.2; An ASUS Memo Pad 10. couple of years old.

Boris
 
I've been using the Navionics app on an iPad, my android phone and my wife's iphone for a few years. It works great on all the devices I've tried it on.
 
I prefer Navionics on the IPad & though, I also use two other chart plotters in conjunction with it, the IPad with Navionics has been my most used on our last two Southeast Alaska cruises & on the cruise, we just finished, the most relied on electronic chart. The other two are both Garmin units & I like the Garmin 276C & 545, but though I have Garmin blue charts also on the IPad, I prefer the Navionics, due to its very easy to use auto routing & tide & current information.
 
I purchased both Navionics and Garmin Blue Chart. I find the Blue Chart easier to use and love the interface with Active Captain. Need to be able to see marinas and restaurants!
 
On the Navionics, and using it with an Android tablet, what do you see about the marinas? And does the chart move with the boat, like on teh Garmin plotter/GPS or like on RayMarine?

I am thinking of getting an Android tablet,7 or 8 inch, to have as another backup, and also to have that for I-net use when traveling.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

1_10_2012_from_Canon_961.highlight.jpg
 
If you have an app that supports Active Captain, you'll have a lot of information about marinas, anchorages, look-out spots, etc., that will be right on the chart.

If your tablet has GPS, most apps will work as a chartplotter showing your location, heading, speed, etc. Pretty much like a purpose built chartplotter.

If there is no GPS, the table will work like a paper or book chart.
 
I have garmin blue chart on iPad. Love it. Worked great all over gulf islands.
 
Thanks for suggestions.
 
ssobol":27vdqzgb said:
If you have an app that supports Active Captain, you'll have a lot of information about marinas, anchorages, look-out spots, etc., that will be right on the chart.

If your tablet has GPS, most apps will work as a chartplotter showing your location, heading, speed, etc. Pretty much like a purpose built chartplotter.

If there is no GPS, the table will work like a paper or book chart.
Click to expand...

So does this mean you need both Active Captain AND Navionics? Does the Active Captain need a chart program (app) to work as a plotter.

I get that the tablet needs to have an internal GPS, although, when researching phones, I found that very few of the folks in a phone store or at Best Buy actually understood the difference between an on board GPS and the triangulation used for many of the mapping services on a phone or tablet.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

HH_Cal_09_07_Jul.thumb.jpg
 
MX Mariner incorporates Active Captain markers onto the charts. You do not need to use another app for navigating. MX Mariner has navigation tools and route planning stuff. It is supposed to get the new Active Captain route syncing tools.

At this time Active Captain does not have much in the way of navigation or route planning tools. AC will give you warnings if you are approaching things identified as hazards in its database if you are using AC as an active tool with a GPS receiver.

Personally, I find that while the Active Captain database is a great resource, the AC app itself is not that intuitive (e.g. if you hit the back key to return to the map you will exit the app) or all that useful. The incorporation of AC data into MX Mariner makes MX Mariner a much better thing to have.
 
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