Navionics for IPHONE (chart plotting)

[Cody1771]

to start off I love this app. doing what I do (working for the Coast Guard) its really neat to be able to mark umm... important locations.... (such as good fishing spots and hot springs) for future use. I originally used the maps program it came with but not being meant for navigation it was pretty useless. so I was on the hunt for a new app.

Many of you probably have no use for a navigation program as this is an over landing group. I do a lot of boating, fishing, and such and I think some of you will feel the same way to. if you spend any time on the water it is useful.

On a bit of a side note if you where wanting to use this as a chart replacement (only legal if you have the paper charts on board) it would be better suited to the IPAD for the larger screen.

This App is currently $40 in the app store so its not cheap.

But, like I said it is has FULL set of all charts for the entire BC coast, how much would that cost you on any other app or paper? as well as constant updating and chart corrections. they also offer charts for various other places of the world, ranging in price from $1 to $40 depending on the intensity of the charts.

this is the opening screen you get when you start the app. the first is the loading screen then you get a basic disclaimer. it is not legal to use electronic charts as your primary chart set in Canada at this date UNLESS you have a completely separate backup system. however it is legal to use them if you have a full set of updated paper charts on hand.

this is what the app looks like fully zoomed out on our coast, with the Google map overlay activated. the red arrow is your current location. you can turn the Google map overlay off if you want, but I think it looks better with it on.

once you start zooming in, the ground terrain remains the satellite imagery from Google but the water turns into proper charts.

if you have Google off the ground looks as it does in a chart, the only details that are shown are those directly on shore of the water, its very limited.

 

[Cody1771]

Ok so lets get into some detail.

As you can see here I've zoomed right in. this Happens to be the inner harbour of Victoria BC. The detail of the Harbour is quite, well... detailed. it includes everything a standard chart does and them some. if you tap anywhere on the screen, I've tapped on my location, it pulls up a small menu like shown. it will give you the cords. as well as a message saying "tap here for more info".

when you tap here for more info, this menu pops open. you can mark it as a favourite, add notes, and even pictures if you wish, it will give you information on the chart such as what the depth contours are measured in, and any other information of note.

in some locations, you will see there is a small "T" in a triangle, this refers to a tidal measuring point. click on it and you will get this;

you can click on the circle indicating the time, and the tidal condition and move it along the arc to find out what time it will be at any point during the day. its quite useful if your a diver, fisher, or just don't like paddling against the current.

 

[Cody1771]

if you go back to the first page in one of the images you may have noticed there was a small picture of a camera. that is there showing that a photo was tagged in that location. its a pretty neat function.

to do this, you just click on the camera icon at the top left of the screen, and follow the simple directions. once you've added the picture, when you click on the small camera icon on the chart it pulls up a menu like this.

click on the image tag and it will pull up your image.

that pretty much covers this app, it can do a lot more but I don't really use many of the functions. for me it was well worth the cost. and if you have a cracked phone.... then why wouldn't you?

if your using a cracked phone, or Itouch it would be worth setting it up to use a Bluetooth GPS puck. there are lots of programs online for this and it would make the GPS function a lot more reliable.

and that is my take on this app :victory: