What I've been planning for a while has finally happened. : iNavX lost Navionics mapping ! It seemed obvious that the historic contract which allowed iNavX to have privileged access to Navionics cartography, since the origin of the application designed by Richard Ray in 2009, was threatened. Since then things have changed a lot : repurchase of the application by NavX Studio (¹), acquisition of Navionics by Garmin (²), generalization of the annual chart subscription policy (³)…
For French users still numerous, partly thanks to the French version, but above all thanks to the Navionics charts covering the whole of Europe in great detail, without the need to renew subscriptions, This sounds the death knell. Current iNavX developers just announced the integration of vector charts Global C-Map, but with one major limitation : Live use only, therefore requiring a permanent internet connection :
Coverage includes and is not limited to : USA, North America, Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Australia and Africa.
C-MAP World Chart delivers high-res vector charts for global coverage in one easy-to-use chart. Delivered as an Online Chart, the C-MAP World Chart is a worldwide vector chart that navigators have benefited for years. The chart sources are based on ENC and additionnal sources published by hydrographic offices. The C-MAP World Chart is updated quarterly and requires a data connection [via Internet].
Charts and options now available by in-app purchase
The result is that, Offline cellular, no more charts are available for Europe (except Germanic coasts and surroundings). And it is highly unlikely that C-Map will allow downloading of the charts., because that would come in competition with their own application which offers this function with an annual "Premium" subscription .
Since, what future for iNavX in Europe for offshore sailors ?
[PS] If you don't want to lose the downloaded maps, The account must be deactivated before any update.
[Update 11 th 2021]
With the sudden price drop (50%) I got the C-Map subscription. I'm glad I did. I could see that in the current state of the display, charts are unusable. No additional information is displayed on the chart : No text (place names and marks, Characteristics of the lights, light sectors,…). In addition, the probes disappear at certain scales by zooming out, as well as most of navaids. No C-Map specific display option for information layers is available in Chart view settings, unlike what was offered with Navionics. It seems that it is a work done in emergency... !
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(¹) iNavX undergoes a change of ownership
(²) The stakeholders of electronic charting
(³) Digital nautical charts : purchase or subscription [Update] ?
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About this new product C-Map, you mention the obligation to have a connection for browsing in Europe, except for the German coasts. What about the Caribbean and Central America ( Guatemala) ?
With C-Map, what is valid for Europe is also valid for the rest of the world. The German publisher Delius Klasing mainly offers maps of Germany's inland waterways and waterways.
A priori. With the latest update. C-MAP maps can be downloaded, For use offline. To be checked anyway
Indeed, the download function is now activated. But given the size of the files, they are raster maps "tiled" from ENCs, not vector maps. One can download areas of about 2 GB max, But the download time is prohibitive.
Hello Francis
Congratulations for everything you do
If I do the latest update of INavX, Will my Navionics charts still work ?
I downloaded them all and everything still works great.
Sincerely
Bernard
With the latest update of iNavx, Is there a risk of losing the Navionics catalog that you have downloaded?
Or you can continue to use the maps without updating.
I imagine that this is the solution chosen, but I prefer to ask for advice before doing this update.
Thanks in advance, I'm not alone in waiting for the answer.
Good luck
For my part I did the update but I had disconnected my account. My downloaded maps are still in place. But be careful : the old Navionics Gold (43XG, 46XG, etc,) are frankly outdated.
Thank you for the answer Francis, I did the same thing and it worked well.
Thank you Francis. Update of my lost card announcement. I contacted iNavx support (Jim) Highly responsive . It follows that :
1) I was able to get all my Navionics charts back ( Europe, Caribbean and especially Australia/Pacific)
2) indeed there is an offer to -50% on the C-MAP subscription (that I have not yet subscribed to)
3) in the near future, it will be possible to use C-MAPs offline, by downloading the necessary areas beforehand
4) Jim also assured me that I would be able to continue using my Navionics, without time limit, even if indeed there will be no more updates
Be continued
I discovered with horror this publication following the disappearance of all my Navionics charts in the iNavX app that I have been using for years, offline on iPad.
1) Is it possible to retrieve all the waypoints from iNavX to integrate them either into navionics or W4D ?
2) iNavX can therefore only be used with internet access ?
Merci
1) Oui, with iNavX Transfers > AirDrop on sends all wp in Weather4D. When opening W4D we ask to choose a category, the best thing to do is to create a new one, e.g. "import" or "inavx" and select it. We can then dispatch wp to other categories. See Premises Management in the Handbook.
2) For France and Europe yes, outside Germany. Unless C-Map later authorizes the download. See other comments.