The blog
Strong of 1 million applications sold for mobile devices, announcement end of April 2013, Navionics continues to offer new and more attractive options. However, the term “tempting” could sometimes rhyme with “disillusioning”.
The last option in-app available from 15 August 2013 is called NavionicsPlus. This is the fourth paid option that Navionics has added to its Navionics Marine apps for iPhone and iPad. What is it about ?
Three weeks and 600 nautical miles of sailing between the mainland and the Balearic Islands have allowed me to test in live some of iPad maritime applications we have.
Warning : There is no question of making a point-by-point comparison between applications, but rather to highlight certain essential aspects of their use. On the other hand, applications used were up-to-date at the beginning of July. Developments are rapid, and updates may have occurred in August or early September that I did not have. Finally, the messaging app iNavX associated with Navionics charting available from the X-Traverse server for me is the "master-standard" marine applications. iNavX is the most complete application in terms of features to date, and Navionics charting (from the X-Traverse server, I specify) closest to the geographical reality observed by many users.
While I spent my summer diligently testing hardware and software in extremely arduous conditions, hard-working developers tirelessly aligned miles of lines of code to improve our navigation applications. What dedication, what self-sacrifice !
Challenging working conditions…
Regarding navigation applications, the new features mainly come from Navionics Marine and iSailor Sex. To all lord all honor, let's start with the undisputed leader of our smartphones and tablets, Navionics charts… Read more …
Navionics vector charts contain a number of detailed information for each marina, and sometimes certain anchorages. These places are marked on charts by the symbol shown against.
This data is called "Navaids" when the information relates to navigation, and "POIs" when dealing with practical and interesting information (Point Of Interest, The "s" is the plural). Read more …
Good surprise during the ARC transatlantic 2011.
After transferring photos from my device to my iPad, for an unknown reason the storage memory was full. I had 9GB free and I only transferred the contents of a 2GB SD-Card. Mystery !
Anyway, after two or three system messages warning me of the upcoming saturation, iOS 5 has simply deleted all my Navionics map used by iNavX !
When asked by e-mail, Rich Ray confirmed the fact possible :
"This is an unfortunate change in iOS5, the iOS will and can clear any apps downloaded data without notice if another app needs more space.. iOS doesn't give any notification to the app if this happens".
Olivier Bouyssou told me it was possible for developers to store application data in a folder reserved unerasable, but that this was rarely allowed by Apple. This was a big problem because no one knew how iOS selected which apps it cleared from.
Yachtmen my friends, be prudent : if you do not want to lose your charting during the cruise, away from any network allowing you to download them again, monitor the available space of your iPad and iPhone.
Bad news : changes in the price of Navionics charts for iNavX on iPad have appeared on the site x-traverse.com, and unfortunately for the regions that directly concern us : Region 46XG Europe and 43XG Mediterranean (replacing the previous 23XG 2011) for iPad increase by +13% to $54 down to $61 (either daily exchange 38 € up to 43 € environ).
At the same time, however, Region 28XG British Isles lose -18% to $84 down to $69 (59 € up to 48 € environ). Good news for English browsers, and our fellow citizens who travel the beautiful coastline of the "Perfide Albion".
It remains nonetheless that, after a significant increase in early May with the arrival of editions 2011, it is surprising to see such rapid changes just at the start of the summer season, you'd think the stock rates !
After my first post Crossing the Atlantic with an iPad here are some screenshots provided by Christophe Mahé between Panama and the Marquesas Islands, during his crossing last month. Just to dream a little, and to convince the last recalcitrant about the ability of an iPad to provide a position and trace a route anywhere on the globe. Read more …
I cannot resist the urge to show you some pics (*) to iNavX on iPad which has just crossed the Atlantic, from Mediterranean to Martinique. The sailor has abandoned his MacBook Air, on which he uses MacENC for several years with S-57 ENC charts. It switched to an iPad 3G, featured iNavX, Navionics Gold charts and the Apple app Numbers to write his log book.
iNavX in action
Once will not hurt, I relayed the information in French from Blog Panbo which have interest for Apple mobile devices users.
All these english words mean the same principle : sharing to the community all maritime information collected by each charting software user. In other words, each boater can use its navigation application to share all information on any changes observed over charts. This can concern the markup, the erection of a new quay or the appearance of new catways in a harbour, practical information on new harbourt services, incorrect positioning of a rock or the appearance of an uncharted shoal, etc,. Read more …
Navionics charts, C-Map charts, BlueChart, MapMedia… You will admit that we have difficulty finding our way in all these brands of electronic cartography. Who belongs to whom ? What works with what ?
To help you see things more clearly, I took a little time to locate the main actors who, au final, provide us these wonderful charts that avoid storing pounds of paper. place free, and ecological in addition ! Once again, follow the leader… Read more …