By DariaBlackwell - 24 Mar 2012
10 Best sailing apps (android)
Android market https://play.google.com/store?hl=en
Many of the articles covering sailing apps are very US focused. As US charting, weather and tide information does not apply anywhere else in the world, we are keeping a close eye on apps that have broader applications. After all, cruisers and racers tend to sail all over the place whether on their own boat or OPBs (other people’s boats).
For Android (as of March 2012)
1. Navionics Charts
2. NOAA Buoy and Tide Data
3. Passage Weather
4. Tide Graph
5. EarthNC (with Google Earth integration)
covers US, Bahamas, New Zealand and Brazil
6. PredictWind
7. PocketNav (integrates with ActiveCaptain)
8. Marine Charts
9. Google Sky Map
10. Boater’s Pocket Reference
Here are some other neat apps:
Ship Finder
RYA Handy Racing Rules
Nautical chart symbols
SAS Survival Guide
Currents
Buoy Weather
Weather Eye
Marine Traffic
Memory-Map (NOAA Raster charts)
MxMariner
Marine Charts HD & Lite
NutiCharts Lite
AveTides
Tides Planner 10
Tide Graph
Tidal Chronoscope
History of sailing
Tide7 (UK, Ireland, Benelux)
Marine Traffic
Racing Rules of Sailing (US Sailing) [Costs €4.43 and has some pretty bad user ratings.]
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By simoncurrin - 28 Mar 2012
Daria,
I will create a new category for IT when I get a chance and will re-post this thread there which should make it more prominent.
Simon
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By simoncurrin - 6 Apr 2012
Daria
As promised I have moved your topic posting to make it more prominent.
Simon
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By simoncurrin - 11 Apr 2012
Daria,
You might like to try:
Anchor Alarm
KML Maps if using the highly detailed Antares Charts of Scottish anchorages
Boatie
Imray Charts
Met office
Sailing weather
Simon
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By DariaBlackwell - 12 Apr 2012
Thanks Simon, it 's clear I 'm going to need more memory! Have you seen World Cruising Calendar?
http://www.appolicious.com/tech/apps/1102741-world-cruising-calendar-guillaume-champlong
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By dcaukill - 31 Jul 2012
Graham and Avril Johnson put me onto this.
Download Google Earth and then link in a GPS feed either from your GPS enabled device or your NMEA network (using for example Franson GPSGate).
I have found the results outstanding, giving me confidence to sail places that I don 't have the chart coverage particularly in reef strewn areas.
In principle you need an Internet connection (GPRS/Edge is good enough) but not necessarily, Apparently, GE caches about 2GB of downloaded maps so if you do your planning research properly (at all relevant zoom levels) the data remains available offline. You do need to be sure you are off line otherwise GE will overwrite the cache when it can, leaving you with a hole in you chart locker when you need it!
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By DariaBlackwell - 31 Aug 2012
Sail-World just posted a story about Boat Beacon, an iPad app now available in android that sounds almost too good to be true. It downloads and transmits AIS data to your smart phone. Does anyone have experience with it?
From Sail-World...http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=101413
"Boat Beacon offers a professional, easy and inexpensive way to experience the benefits of AIS navigation. Features of Boat Beacon include:
1. Real-time 'Map View ' of both the user’s and other boats via AIS.
2. Continuous Collision detection using Closest Point of Approach (CPA)
3. 'Compass ' mode to sight ships on the map including bearing to and distance from.
4. Enable friends and family to see the user’s location and course on Boat Beacon and Global AIS Systems.
5. Current Speed, Course and GPS location
6. Details about other ships including photos.
7. MMSI numbers to contact nearby boats via VHF.
By enabling Boat Beacon’s 'Transmit ' mode, the user’s boat will appear on other Boat Beacon-equipped devices. With its AIS Sharing feature, the user’s boat will also appear on live ship tracking websites such as AIS Hub, Marine Traffic and Ship Finder."
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By simoncurrin - 31 Aug 2012
Presumably you need a mobile phone signal for an intranet connection to get the data as not receiving AIS via VHF?
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By DariaBlackwell - 31 Aug 2012
That 's right Simon. Good mostly in coastal waters up to about 12 miles out they say in places like US and UK. But that 's where ship 's traffic is most concentrated. So as an inexpensive option, it 's pretty interesting.
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By simoncurrin - 2 Sep 2012
I loaded it up and put in our boat 's name and can now see that we are the only sailing vessel in land-locked mid Wales! It is very clever.
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By DariaBlackwell - 3 Sep 2012
[quote="simoncurrin" post=587]I loaded it up and put in our boat 's name and can now see that we are the only sailing vessel in land-locked mid Wales! It is very clever.[/quote]
Hmmmm, a slight miscalculation. I presume your boat is in Scotland? So as long as you are on the boat, it reports the boat 's location. The glitch in the app is that the mobile goes with you not with your boat. The AIS system showing boats in strange places could really complicate things, eh?
I wrote to Sail-World who received this comment from the developer of the app:
"Boat Beacon only transmits location if transmit is deliberately turned on. It shows a permanent notification to remind folks when it is transmitting and will repeatedly alert every 30 minutes if it is transmitting and not connected to a charger (transmit uses a lot of power) or when the battery falls below 50% .
Folks could leave it transmitting by mistake when they go ashore or deliberately and irresponsibly transmit when on the land (other than just for testing). (They could also do this with real VHF transponders.) This is not a problem as far as navigation for others is concerned (they are not at sea :) ) and with over 3,500 users so far every one appears to be responsible and this has not been an issue. I hope that helps."
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By DariaBlackwell - 12 Sep 2012
Just found a great blog dedicated to sailing apps. http://i-marineapps.blogspot.ie/
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By DariaBlackwell - 21 Sep 2012
Here 's a Practical Sailor article about apps for iPads.
http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_16/features/nautical_apps_ipad_10755-1.html
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By simoncurrin - 23 Sep 2012
I tried Boat Beacon for real this week on a delivery from Scotland to Ireland. It worked very well when in mobile range and uploaded our track and data onto websites and apps such as Marine Traffic and Shipfinder for family and friends to browse to their heart 's content.
[attachment=39]boatbeaconscreenshot.jpg[/attachment]
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By DariaBlackwell - 10 Nov 2013
New App attempts to bring lots of functions into one place.
SailingApp $5.99
The SailingApp is a Dynamic New App, Designed by Sailors for Sailors.
Loaded with easy access Reference Material from A-Z Great new Sailing specific Tools & Calculators that are built to fit the needs of everyday sailing challenges that make the time on the water more enjoyable. The Form and Function of the SailingApp is designed to enhance your Sailing experience wherever you sail and more fun for everyone onboard.
http://www.sailingapp.com/
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By DariaBlackwell - 5 May 2014
On our recent delivery of Aleria from Galway to Westport sailing along the coast of Ireland, we forgot to bring along the chart plotter chip which we had removed for the winter. So I had good reason to test the Navionics app on my Samsung android. We did have paper charts on board.
I am pleased to report that the app worked flawlessly. I was able to programme in waypoints for a route from Galway via the Aran Islands and Inishbofin with touch screen ease. If I didn 't like a waypoint, I could edit the route just by selecting "edit" and dragging a waypoint on screen. The amount of detail was equivalent to any chartplotter. And, along the way, I could take photos and annotate chart locations with personal notes. All in all a really good experience.
The only drawbacks are that the GPS uses a lot of power and so must be plugged in to a power supply to serve effectively and the handheld screen is too small to be used a primary nav source. But it convinced us that it might be time to get a tablet as back up.
We also input the waypoints from the Navionics handheld into our chartplotter and used that to give us CTS and TTG. Not a bad combination.
My only complaint is that Navionics still hasn 't seen it fit to include Ireland in the name of the app. Ireland is covered in the UK & Holland app. I tried to explain to HQ that there are two countries - N Ireland and Republic of Ireland - and that only one is part of the UK but they just didn 't get it. It had taken me several attempts and purchase of the Western Europe app first to learn which app edition covered the Republic waters.
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By simoncurrin - 5 May 2014
We are experimenting with Garmin 's Blue Charts App this year which seems to work very on an iPad and has the interface with Active Captain and superimposed weather which includes radar for rain, cloud cover, Gribs, live reports from weather stations etc etc. Not quite as many navigating and routing features as Navionics though. No problems with viewing in full sunlight but then we are in Scotland!
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By DariaBlackwell - 5 May 2014
I forgot to mention that the Navionics tide prediction feature was very useful.
I 'll have to check out the Garmin Blue Charts, Simon. Thanks for the info.
By the way, for anyone coming out to Ireland, the free new Met Eireann app is very useful. Simple and easy to use.
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By DariaBlackwell - 1 Aug 2015
A new article by Behan Gifford on Sailing Totem covers the newest sailing apps. July 2015.
http://www.sailingtotem.com/2015/07/the-best-apps-for-cruising.html
In part II she covers apps for living aboard:
http://www.sailingtotem.com/2015/07/the-best-apps-for-cruising-part-ii.html
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By DariaBlackwell - 13 Aug 2015
Yachting World has tested a variety of navigation apps for iPad. These are their findings.
http://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-and-gear/ipad-navigation-apps-tested-61366
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