Garmin Bluechart Mobile App - Where are you?

[HRowland]

I fully understand the tech cycle (I am an EE) but do not love Apple like many others. I would really like to see Garmin release an Android version to give us a variety of platforms at different cost points. Apple is pretty secretive about the memory available in the various iPad models, this is not listed in the model comparisons. I guess the iOS 6 restriction is a way to prevent us from using a lesser memory model. Before cruising I always close all background apps and run only one charting app on my iPad. This has proven to be very reliable. Screen updates are actually better than the 5212 sometimes, the 5212 is no speed demon.

My last couple of corporate employers assign laptops to us in the field on 3 to 4 year cycles. My current 3 year old laptop is still perfectly adequate. I normally expect to be able to use tech equipment for 3 years or more and only upgrade when there is a compelling reason. At this point I do not know if BlueChart mobile is compelling enough. While it looks very nice I already have backup navigation available (plus paper charts, plotter and compass!) and Active Captain data. I will wait to see what Jeff comes out with in his Companion product.

I remember those old mainframe systems, one of my past jobs (during college) was a field tech for IBM. I used to install/update/remove/relocate the old System 360s and 370s. They had those big disk drives with 3 phase 1 HP moters to spin the platters and provide 100MB or 300MB of storage.

Howard

 

[ActiveCaptain]

I will wait to see what Jeff comes out with in his Companion product.

Jeff's Companion product won't be a chartplotter replacement. There's no chart navigation with it. A charplotter helps you plan how to get from one place to another and then assists in executing the plan. The Companion is for something totally different - it helps you understand *why* you should go somewhere along with some other social navigation features underway. I moved from Mayport to St Augustine, FL today. I had my main sunlight readable chartplotter with AIS, autopilot, depth sounders, and a bunch of other toys along with Garmin BlueChart Mobile on my iPad and the Companion on an Android phone. Each has a place and I want all 3 displays.

 

[baz]

On my iPhone 4S the chart display cannot be rotated to landscape mode... shame about that. It seems it's stuck in Portrait mode display no matter how much I try to change it to Landscape 🙁

However, on my iPad 2 (latest model -1) I can rotate the chart display to landscape mode... niceee. 😀

So far I've seen no App crashes for this Garmin Bluechart Mobile on either the iPhone 4S or the iPad 2. Great. 😀

iPhone 4S showing chart display in Portrait mode.

Landscape mode on iPad

 

[Bruce Moore]

On my iPhone 4S the chart display cannot be rotated to landscape mode... shame about that. It seems it's stuck in Portrait mode display no matter how much I try to change it to Landscape 🙁

I haven't installed this app, but try checking to see if the app is locked to portrait by default. With the app open double-click the home button. The quick app changer will open a the bottom of the screen. Scroll to the far left and check the circle arrow graphic. If it has a lock in it, tap to unlock. The app may or may not have this option.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[baz]

Thanks Bruce... I did check that and the iPhone was not locked in Portrait mode. However, your advice/help also allowed me to solve another problem I was having which was having the iPhone and iPad display its Bluechart info on my lovely 60" flat screen TV with the Apple TV via Airport connection.

By sliding/scolling to the left as you advised I eventually found the AirPlay feature... and it works wonderfully... so a BIG thanks to you Bruce for leading me to this. I can now enjoy this App even more using my large flat screen TV in comfort and get great detail on the 60" screen. 😀 😀 😀

AirPlay feature shown below -- is provided on the iPhone for displaying to a flat screen TV connected to an Apple TV via AirPort. Note that using the iPhone or the iPad it's necessary for the Apple TV, the iPhone or the iPad to be on the same network for this to work correctly.

For those with large flat screen TVs on their boats and having an Apple TV connected to it I would say this is another feature to enjoy with this new Garmin Bluechart Mobile application.

 

[knotflying]

I am jumping in on this 5 pages into this thread so I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered. So, if one is to create routes on your iPad and you do not have a wifi adapter hooked up to the chart plotter, how would one get their created route onto the chart plotter? There is no SD card slot on an iPad, only a USB.

 

[baz]

I am jumping in on this 5 pages into this thread so I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered. So, if one is to create routes on your iPad and you do not have a wifi adapter hooked up to the chart plotter, how would one get their created route onto the chart plotter? There is no SD card slot on an iPad, only a USB.

This has been discussed some, but there's no good solution at this time for the scenario you present. You can buy an SD dongle for the iPad that allows you to deposit data from the iPad to an SD card (goto http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/ipad_accessories/cables_docks). However, this does you no good unless the Garmin Chart plotter can read your SD card and know what to do with it.

I do hope Garmin rises to the challenge in providing this customer-friendly option for transferring the Bluechart Mobile Apps route data to their Chart plotters. Yes, the Garmin provided Wi-Fi component is convenient, but at this time expensive and not necessarily user/customer-friendly IMO.

 

[knotflying]

So I downloaded the app and purchased the charts on my ipad. It seems that you can download the charts only on one device, they won't carry over to another device such as your iphone. The App carries over automatically as other apps do, but the chart information purchased does not. I guess another Gotchya from Garmin.

 

[ActiveCaptain]

So I downloaded the app and purchased the charts on my ipad. It seems that you can download the charts only on one device, they won't carry over to another device such as your iphone. The App carries over automatically as other apps do, but the chart information purchased does not. I guess another Gotchya from Garmin.

Are you sure about that? Are you logged into iTunes with the same account? You should be able to go into Settings / BlueChart Maps and click Restore Purchases. I'm quite interested in knowing your results from that because I'm about to write up a review on the app. It's worked that way for me for 8 months.

You must be logged onto the exact same iTunes account from the App Store app. I even share charts between my iPhone/iPad and my wife's by having her log into my iTunes account, restore purchases from the Garmin app, and then re-logging back into her account.

 

[Shared Dream II]

I am able to share the single purchase of charts between my 2 iPads and 2 iPhones.

 

[knotflying]

Okay, my apologies to Garmin. I did not realize that you had to redownload purchases on the other devices. I did it and now it is up an running on my iphone. Getting information from your fellow boaters is what makes this site so great!

 

[ActiveCaptain]

Okay, my apologies to Garmin. I did not realize that you had to redownload purchases on the other devices. I did it and now it is up an running on my iphone. Getting information from your fellow boaters is what makes this site so great!

It's not a problem - there aren't too many apps that you share that way. In-app purchases are especially less common.

I've found that most people don't know that you can even share apps between users - generally family members. All you need is their iTunes account and you can download anything they purchased on your iDevice. I think there's a limit of 5 units that it'll allow or something like that. So the bottom line is that you can even share your BlueChart Mobile with your wife's phone, etc. if there are multiple iPhones/iPads in your family.

 

[baz]

I added a review for my home port of Edmonds as the one review stated Michaels as the company servicing the boat yard. However, Michaels has left and has been replaced by another boat servicing company. I added a review stating this. After I pressed "Submit" I received an error message with the word "Range" in the box... very weird.

I then went back and luckily my review text had persisted so I re-submitted by pressing the Submit button. This time it was successful.

I see that there are now two Reviews with mine being the latest entry. However, the number of reviews counter is still displaying "1". Is this review local to my iOS device (in this case my iPhone 4S) or will it somehow upload to the ActiveCaptain's data base at some point... and if so, at what point ? For example, do I have to logout of ActiveCaptain and re-login for this review to get uploaded ?

One other point... there are 5 stars associated with a Review. Are these user settable or are they a fixed item (just curious) ?

[Edit] ...just noticed I can in fact touch the stars object to affect the number of stars colored in blue... I assume this is a rating of 5 stars with 5 being "excellent". However, is this a rating for the Marina or a rating for my Review... :lol:

I would also suggest that after pressing Submit that the Title and Review text be erased. I rebooted my iPhone and noticed that my review had persisted in the "Write a Review" display.

I also note that one cannot enter an image into the "Review (20 characters minimum)" box. If I have an image copied and invoke the magnifying glass inside the Review box the only options I get are "Select" and "Select All". If I have text copied then I will also see "Paste". No problem really as I'm just checking things out to test the Apps limitations etc. 😉

 

[ActiveCaptain]

I see that there are now two Reviews with mine being the latest entry. However, the number of reviews counter is still displaying "1". Is this review local to my iOS device (in this case my iPhone 4S) or will it somehow upload to the ActiveCaptain's data base at some point... and if so, at what point ? For example, do I have to logout of ActiveCaptain and re-login for this review to get uploaded ?

One other point... there are 5 stars associated with a Review. Are these user settable or are they a fixed item (just curious) ?

It seems like a Garmin bug. The ultimate view of the database is on the website and it's showing a single review from you:
https://activecaptain.com/X.php?lat=47.807848&lon=-122.389338&t=n&z=15

You don't ever have to log out of the Garmin app - the synchronization happens whenever it detects an internet connection. When you submit a review, it sends it immediately to the ActiveCaptain website. I haven't had a problem in testing but it's all new with much to uncover.

You're able to set the number of stars. You can also edit your review by re-reviewing the facility. You're only allowed a single review so if you've written one before, it'll bring the old one back for editing. You can also change the number of stars then.

 

[baz]

I just edited my post you replied to as you were posting... I had a few more things to say.... 🙂

 

[ActiveCaptain]

I would also suggest that after pressing Submit that the Title and Review text be erased. I rebooted my iPhone and noticed that my review had persisted in the "Write a Review" display.

I'm not completely sure what you mean. But there's a feedback item in the Settings of the Garmin app where you can give feedback to Garmin if you find something you don't like or something that might be broken.

I also note that one cannot enter an image into the "Review (20 characters minimum)" box.

No, we don't allow images. You need to paint a picture with words...

 

[baz]

Thanks... 🙂

My iPad (3rd generation) shows the Review count as 2 whereas my iPhone 4S shows the Review count as 1. I checked the ActiveCaptain web site and it has my latest review AOK.

When I enter a Review and then Submit it the Review Title and Review text remains. If I go off and do something else and subsequently return to the Reviews and select to make another review my previous Review stuff remains. I would like to see this automatically removed after pressing Submit otherwise I have to select it all and "cut" it out, making more work for myself.

 

[baz]

On the iPad the Garmin Bluechart Mobile App provides the + and - icons for enlarging and decreasing the display contents. On the iPhone these two icons are mission (not provided) and the only option for enlarging and decreasing the display image is by using the two finger pinch or two finger spread actions. This is fine when not wearing gloves and of course even without gloves using bare fingers it does not always work well.

Personally I'd like to have the + and - icons present on the iPhone version of the Garmin Bluechart Mobile App.

 

[ActiveCaptain]

Personally I'd like to have the + and - icons present on the iPhone version of the Garmin Bluechart Mobile App.

I totally agree. I actually used your posting to send to Garmin because I'd been saying similar things. They originally didn't want the +/- buttons in the iPad version either but gave in. While underway, I really want the buttons.

 

[baz]

I also note that depending on the chart's magnification you may or may not see the ActiveCaptain icons. Is this by design and if so what was behind the decision ? This is true for other icons such as icons displaying wind velocity if one has that feature enabled.