Is Garmin killing Active Captain?

T

Two Bears

New member
I've been a fan of Active Captain for years. Yesterday I was reviewing some Marinas along the Snake and Columbia Rivers. I noticed that Irrigon, Oregon which has a city run marina was no longer listed. It was listed in the fall of 2017 when I was considering joining the Snake River group/ event. Perhaps in the changeover it got dropped.

So, I thought I would relist it. I went to Google maps for the Irrigon City website for the information needed and then went to Active Captain to created the site and fill out the information. After a half hour I gave up. Every time I'd get part of the info filled out the form would just revert back to a blank form. Or other things would happen. I've created a number of launch ramps, anchorages and other sites in past years and not had any problem launching them. The Garmin forms and appearance are different that under the old management, but I still should have been able to blunder thru after a half dozen tries.

Perhaps I'm getting old and my digital skills are failing, but I really feel like there is a mean gremlin on the site. Anyone else experience this?

Chuck
 
I presume you were trying to enter info into the Garmin Active Captain website. I haven't tried to do that but I am not surprised it doesn't work.

I will bet that Garmin is limiting adding new info to Garmin apps only.

If so this means it is the end of AC's crowdsourcing strategy.

Jeff Siegel, where are you? We miss you.


David
 
Yes, Active Captain is being killed by Garmin. Too bad. We suspected that Jeff was selling to Garmin and brought that up prior to the sale. This complaint has been offered on other boating sites also. So Garmin is well aware of the issues, and apparently has chosen not to address them.
 
I respectfully beg to differ with the above comments.

As an experiment, I just logged onto Active Captain and tried adding information about a local boat ramp. It worked just fine—take a look—and posted within three minutes.

I use Active Captain regularly, as an essential feature of Aqua Map, my primary charting tool, running on an iPad. I posted another review several months ago, and that effort also worked. My earlier submission was made from within Aqua Map while I was out on the water; tonight's entry was made on the Active Captain website, using a MacBook. I haven't tried entering information using any other platform.

In my experience, Garmin appears to be continually upgrading Active Captain. For example, Active Captain now offers three different marine chart views: Navionics sonar and nautical digital charts, as well as a NOAA raster version. Road and satellite view layers are also offered. And what's really nice is that, on the free (for now, at least) Active Captain website, the detailed Navionics charts cover Canadian waters—a feature that wasn't available before the ownership change. Free, detailed Canadian charts—how cool is that?

Although I must admit I wasn't happy when Garmin acquired Active Captain (all of the routes I had painstakingly created over a couple of years disappeared), I see no sign that they are in any way killing or disabling the program. They clearly see the value of crowd-sourced data, and are investing money improving it. For me, Active Captain remains an indispensable resource.
 
You are correct that the Garmin Active Captain website gives Canadian and Bahamian charts when in Nautical view which is presumably Navionics data.

You have to sign in to add to a review of an existing marker and the sign in process was a bit awkward (I had previously registered for G AC). But I could not create a new marker, at least not on MS Windows.

I too use SEAiq but have bemoaned its loss of current AC data.

How does AquaMap work. It seems you have to download a one year subscription to US and Canadian charts for $15.

David





David
 
DavidM":98l9tm1p said:
How does AquaMap work. It seems you have to download a one year subscription to US and Canadian charts for $15.
Click to expand...
There appear to be several options for purchasing the Aqua Map charts:

—One-year subscriptions, ranging from $9.99 for U.S. or Canadian charts, or $14.99 for both.

—Perpetual U.S. and Canadian charts for $39.99, which is the option I chose.

Aqua Map will run on iOS or Android devices, and is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play, respectively. I chose Aqua Map after reading a very thorough review of 14 iPad nav apps, here. Accompanying the review is a really cool slide show presenting screenshots of various nav programs. Finally, the review includes a side-by-side comparison spreadsheet.

Ultimately, Active Captain interface was a huge factor in my decision to go with Aqua Map. I own several other nav programs for iPad, including Navionics, but Aqua Map is my go-to program.
 
Well, I downloaded AquaMap and also bought the perpetual US charts. This is for an iPad mini.

I rather like it. It is the only inexpensive tablet app that lets me measure a multipoint route. I used to do this on the old Active Captain but alas Garmin killed that with their new one. I use this a lot for trip planning.

Surprisingly the land data is very detailed. It even shows the trails in my neighborhood nature park.

I tried the tide function and it works as well as SEAiq with a somewhat better display of data. I only found one current marker in my area, an arrow symbol in Boca Grande Pass in Florida. It seemed to work ok.

I tried adding an AC review to an existing marker and it took me to Garmin AC to complete that action. OK that works.

But I have not been able to enter a new marker in any of these apps or website. Any ideas?

David
 
DavidM":3ijbls4s said:
Well, I downloaded AquaMap and also bought the perpetual US charts. This is for an iPad mini.
Click to expand...
If you have an iPhone, it will run on that, too. Even with the small display, it's frequently useful. Incidentally, Aqua Map has a built-in anchor alarm, and you can run that on your iPhone.

I have not been able to enter a new marker in any of these apps or website. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
David, I am having no problem entering information on the Active Captain website. If you'd like to call me, I can try to walk you through it. I'll send you my phone # via PM.
 
Aha, I figured it out. You have to open the Marker info tab in the Garmin Active Captain website and then click on Add Marker and it leads you through the process. No need to call.

David
 
Perhaps it was my blunders.

I went back tonight and was able to make the entry. Only I miss spelled Irrigon and put two "g"s . Now I can't seem to edit that.

It's hell to get old! - (I have to blame something!)

Chuck
 
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