Apps de navigation : the (rares) new products in Spring 2014

The least I can say, it’s that the new things don’t jostle. After the frenzy of announcements of 2013, the developers seem to be marking time. It is likely that the proliferation of navigation apps should not promote their profitability, and that the financial return on investment in development and maintenance time should not be obtained by everyone. Navionics charts remains the undisputed leader. By creating its new “Boating” formula to complement and/or replace “Marine” (¹) it revives sales which were probably starting to run out of steam. iNavX remains the best-selling independent application in the USA, and the rest of the world through combination with Navionics cartography, and particularly in France thanks… to the strong promotion to which I contribute. Its developer multiplies very regular updates, which ensures good positioning on the AppStore and user satisfaction, despite the questionable ergonomics of certain functions.

Like the iNavX app, Designed by a "lone developer", SEAiq (³) is a special case in terms of the wealth of functions offered as standard, by the many charting formats supported (including the CM93), And this despite a very refined interface and a certain slowness of the display. This application can only appeal to professionals and experienced sailors who attach more importance to the technical than the aesthetic.

Behind the first two applications mentioned, Come… all the others. I am very afraid that some publishers will sell only a few dozen copies per month, and for others even less. The example of French MaxSea is symptomatic : announced with a lot of press releases in the spring 2013, the messaging app Time Zero (²) has not been updated since November 2013, while many functions were envisaged from the outset. Apart from Navionics, charting editor who took commercial advantage to invest all sectors of use (chartplotters, computers, tablets, smartphones), other editors like C-Map, Garmin, Imray, only offer incomplete applications, more than questionable ergonomics despite certain tips, without other apparent that will be present on the tablets.

However, we find original ideas in several of these applications, the clever treatment of certain functions, or even the opening to WiFi communication for integration with on-board instruments. But except iNavX that, from the beginning, has fully open its application to all communication devices appearing on the market (Multiplexers, AIS, aso) incorporating a TCP / IP interface and support for NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data, the others only implemented these functions gradually, partially, and most often in integrated paid options (in-app). It is , among others, case of iSailor (⁴) which presents an update offering such option.

iSailor 1.6.2

iSailor is now multilingual : English, Spanish, German, Russian, and even Korean (I did not know there was a market for yachting in Korea, what a gap !). We hope soon the French !

New in-app paid options :

• NMEA GPS : support NMEA data from an external GPS via WiFi connection.
• NMEA Compass & ROT : support NMEA data from an external Compass and Rate-Of-Turn via WiFi connection.
• AIS Ship Contours : display of AIS targets in proportional size at large scales.

World charting coverage :

Beautiful vector charts Transas TX-97 now covers the entire globe, including bodies of water and inland waterways of Europe and the USA, with a division into numerous cells at an average price of 22 €. We regret only display data in successive steps where we see disappear and reappear textual information according to levels of zoom. This issue has not yet been fixed.

iSailor and social networks :

• Direct access to the iSailor Facebook page.
• Sharing the position cursor and user objects via Facebook, Twitter link, iMessenger, Email.
• A picture can be attached to any user object.
• User objects with pictures can be exported to Google Earth format KMZ.

Many other improvements have come to implement this new release, you will find the list in the AppStore.

SEAiq 1.3.5

The development of the AIS identification system is becoming widespread in navigation applications, and also collaborative servers like Marine Traffic, SiiTech or also AIS HUB.

AIS Sharing :

SEAiq now allows AIS reception and sharing via the internet with the server AIS HUB. As iNavX offers with the server SiiTech (⁵), AIS Sharing feature allows you to receive AIS targets around the world and displayed on the chart.

In addition, users who use sharing AIS while connected to their own AIS receiver via WiFi will share their data with other users to SEAiq. If there are active users to SEAiq in the area, they will get then access to their feeds. This can work correctly in many cases but, of course, you have to be aware that The source of feedyou are looking at can move out of range or be turned off at any time. The SEAiq user manual provides detailed instructions for receiving data with your device via the 3G/4G cellular network while remaining connected via WiFi to the instruments.

We therefore obtain the same information as with an AIS receiver.. But be careful, however : these data passing through the internet network may present a time lag upon reception. Information is not as instantaneous as with the ship's own AIS receiver.

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(¹) Navionics Boating : Italian at the top of business
(²) MaxSea TimeZero on iPad
(³) SEAiq professional navigation on iPad
(⁴) Articles on iSailor
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