Garmin Bluechart Mobile (iPad)

S

Sunbeam

Active member
Hi Folks,

Figured I'd start a thread on this topic (something tells me other questions will pop up). My current question is regarding Lake Powell.

Now that Apple has fixed things so that I can make "in app" purchases, I'm happily downloading chart blocks on the shiny, new Garmin Bluechart Mobile program on the iPad. Once I download each block, then I can see the detailed charts for that area.

One of the blocks I downloaded was the one that includes Lake Powell. The block shows up on the big grid as "bright" (meaning I have downloaded it). When I go back to my main North America view (on the app, not the downloading blocks), I can see Lake Powell within a "bright" (downloaded" block. It's still there when the whole lake takes up about a 3" swath of screen, but when I zoom in further, it completely disappears and the screen just shows the base "yellow/land" color. No sigh of a lake or any feature at all. I went and "un-downloaded" and then re-downloaded it (successfully) and ... same thing.

Does this app just not include Lake Powell? I thought I had read that it does, but not sure. Figured I'd see what anyone else here had found.

Thanks,
Sunbeam

PS: I know it's on Navionics, but I have not purchased that yet.
 
Simple answer No.

Although Garmin has the Lake and River Charts, the down load for Garmin states coastlines and major rivers (Great Loop). The Great Lakes are covered as is the St. John's River. But not the inland Lakes, such as Tahoe, Flaming George, Tahoe etc.

I'll ask Jeff about that this next week.
 
Aha, so it sounds like (for now) what I'm seeing for Lake Powell (nothing) is just what everyone else is seeing.

(BTW, just for the record, I did download the more comprehensive North America one, ~$45 as of this writing).

I guess at this point one has to get Navionics (or another one) to have the Powell charts.

Sunbeam
 
Navionics has fairly good Lake Powell charts. I did find several errors. But that may be true of many inland charts. Garmin chart chip on the chart plotter seems accurate. However, I can see why Garmin is not selling the Entire US, Caribbean, Canada, North S. America, plus the lakes for $44 if people are gong to use this rather than buy the chart chips. (and the chart plotter). I was surprised that I still had Navionics after upgrade to I OS 7. When I went to I O S 5 I lost the Navionics--and had to pay some more $$.

This goes to the question--is the i pad a substitute for a good chart plotter, or a supplement. I consider it a supplement and planning tool. I understand that some will use it as their only navigation instrument.
 
This goes to the question--is the i pad a substitute for a good chart plotter, or a supplement. I consider it a supplement and planning tool. I understand that some will use it as their only navigation instrument.[/quote]

Agree totally Bob. I have found a few errors over the last year using my Ipad. For me its a supplement to get me home in the event my on board Garmin goes down. It just feels good having it next to my Garmin ready to go if needed. Kind of like having that second motor. :lol:
 
I'm thinking I'll use it for planning, so I can do it anywhere, not just on the boat and hunched in front of the chartplotter. Also I may plan trips or view areas for which I do not (yet) have paper charts.

Onboard I'll consider it a supplement/backup to the existing chartplotter. Thinking sometimes I may run the iPad small scale and the chartplotter large scale for the same area.
 
Sunbeam":1p6cj52u said:
I'm thinking I'll use it for planning, so I can do it anywhere, not just on the boat and hunched in front of the chartplotter. Also I may plan trips or view areas for which I do not (yet) have paper charts.

Onboard I'll consider it a supplement/backup to the existing chartplotter. Thinking sometimes I may run the iPad small scale and the chartplotter large scale for the same area.
Click to expand...

This is the way we use the Garmin Bluechart and the Navionics apps. I did have an issue with my Raymarine chartplotter last year (turned out to be a guitar pickup too close to the fluxgate compass :roll: ), but I ran with the iPad, using the Raymarine for depth.

I had a Navionics rep (at a boat show) justify the price of apps vs chartplotter chips by "scale" (WAY more people who would buy the app vs chartplotter owners). When the Navionics app first came out, with charts by the area, you could buy them for $4.99... which went up to $9.99 overnight... then up and up.

Garmin has always been proprietary with their charting chips (and high priced, too).

We used the Navionics chartplotter chip and the app at Lake Powell last year.

Jim
 
As I might expect, Jeff Siegel (Active Captain developer and owner) got right back to me about the questions. I did not produce some of the graphics he sent, but may add them later.

Garmin appears to have no chart support for many inland lakes like Lake Powell in BlueChart Mobile. ActiveCaptain has support for the entire world - remember our anchorages in the Antarctic. We don't have a lot of data at Lake Powell but there is some. Getting more data relies on people using the product and adding to it. It's a "chicken-and-egg" problem. You need both to happen at the same time and it's a tricky thing to make happen.

Here are some quick examples.

The website has map and satellite imagery support. That view can be seen live at:
https://activecaptain.com/X.php?lat=36.992366&lon=-111.407109&t=m&z=12

Apps that support map data beyond NOAA/IENC charts will have support for places like Lake Powell. See Skipper - a $12 app for iPhone/iPad.
(the basic Skipper is $.99 and the $11.99 per year gives updates, satellite, and a number of other options including Active Captain)
Our new free Companion has offline support for Lake Powell - screen shot attached. The nice thing about the Companion is that once you've downloaded it, it's completely offline. The map resolution is low right now - it's already written to take advantage of full resolution map background but there's no way to add the high resolution tiles right now - that's coming.

The key to getting new data into ActiveCaptain today is using the website. That'll change. In a couple of revisions, the Companion will have full data entry support - today you can only add reviews and comments to existing markers with the Companion (75% of the data entry in ActiveCaptain today).
Click to expand...

I already had "Skipper" down loaded, but kept in the cloud. Jeff had sent several examples with plain map, but also I noted that Skipper has topographical maps for Powell This is very important, since the lake level varies so much, and the shore line corresponds to the topographical map. Skipper also shows the NOAA map for Lake Mead (none for Powell)

There are a number of free charts which work with Active Captain including
"SEAiq
SEAiq by SEAiq is available in a few different apps. SEAiq Free provides free ActiveCaptain access and free US NOAA vector charts (above 1:50,000 scale); SEAiq Open (also free to try) is for international use and is the only iOS app that lets you install your own S-57, S-63, IENC, or CM-93 vector charts. The SEAiq apps are also the only ActiveCaptain apps for IOS that support external NMEA/AIS over WiFi. " (from Active Captain site)

C Brats can contribute the most of any one group for areas like Lake Powell or Yellowstone (as well as PNW, Alaska etc) by adding their favorite places and comments to Active Captain in theses places.
 
You could also try
Topo Maps version 1.12.1

© 2009-2013 Philip Endecott

It. Will let you download all the USGS topos for free. I think the app was 9 or 10 bucks.

I use Navionics US and Canada HD and there ok with a few mistakes. I have been trying to get Garmin to correct some of theirs with no luck. There on there because that's the way they are on the usgs topos. That's why Oak Canyon and Secret are swapped. You just have to look at the two and think about the names.
 
I too have found some Navionics chart errors on my Ipad application. One bay at Isle Royale in Lake Superior is drawn completely incorrectly. But generally quite good. I use in conjunction with my chartplotter. It seems to update much faster and the course line for steering across long reaches of open waters with no visible horizon is helpful.
 
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