AyeTides XL
, tides prediction application of Hahn Software LLC, is available from the 2 nd August on AppStore. Output from the software AyeTides for Mac up to AyeTides for iPhone, la version iPad propose une interface utilisateur totalement renouvelée pour tirer parti de la taille et la définition de l’écran.
With more than 12.500 tides and currents stations around the world, whose 160 stations in France, the app presents times and heights of tide level based on the US public software XTide (*) using data and harmonic tidal predictions from the National Ocean Service (NOAA). De nombreuses corrections y ont été apportées afin d’obtenir des prédictions présentant en moyenne moins de 3% d’écart avec les prédictions des organismes officiels, as for the SHOM France, et les mises à jour de la base de donnée sont fréquentes et toujours gratuites.
Carte mondiale des stations
Find stations
The home view features a chart to be zoomed in/out to see all station icons in a selected area. Each station is accounted for by a standard tide icon [T] or current icon [C], a pin icon represents a grouping of several stations depending details level (zoom) used. A simple tap on icon opens the station (or the list of stations grouped).
The chart page can be switched to stations list page. In addition, an advanced search page allows you to find stations by geographical areas, alphabetical, recent or favorite stations.
Si le Service de localisation est activé (GPS, cellular) position is plotted on the chart and allows a quick choice of closest stations.
Finally, below the chart, as set up, recents or favorites stations are listed.
Display stations
In portrait view mode the page shows, in upper banner, instantaneous water depth and direction of tide (or current) and a tidal clock. The center part shows two days tide prediction in list mode and ephemeris of sun and moon. Lower banner shows tides graphics.
In landscape display mode, a one month graphics view allow zooming on each day by a simple tap, opening a popover with complete detailled informations, including astronomical.
Button " Maps » displays the station on a Google Maps map in a window, a " ★ » d’ajouter la station à la liste des favorites, a " 🔍 » to list the nearest stations. Also three buttons allows the choice of depth water units : meters high, feet, ou fathoms.
In portrait as landscape mode, simply dragging the finger across the screen to swipe days or months prediction, and date selector can be used to choose a specific date until 2100.
Plusieurs icônes permettent d’accéder aux stations les plus proches :
Summary
Unlike most competing applications, AyeTides XL does not require subscription. Predictions are provided until 2030 for the current base price of 9 EUR.
Without doubt the best universal tide app for iPad, even if it lacks the tides coefficients, concept completely unknown to british-US but so useful for french yachtmen. However, predictions based on harmonics can hardly take into account some local particularity. C’est le cas en Manche aux approches du Pas de Calais : on peut y rencontrer des écarts sensibles avec les prédictions du SHOM pour certains ports comme Le Havre. The author has integrated alerts when certain stations showed significant differences with local predictions.
–––
(*) XTide
–––
