Garmin just purchased ActiveCaptain

[Tkeeth]

Originally Posted by mcm

Look like potential bad news for the Yachtsman, my experience with garmin was real frustration, like Nobeltec they were forever "improving " the product, more expense for the consumer stuff you had was out of date. I'm sure they paid a pretty penny for the ownership, Jeffrey could have started his own subscription service if he wanted.

I see the constant "improving" also as a big issue as they tend to move away from legacy support. If you want to do a small upgrade and ad capability, you get to a point where a whole new system is required. I have an E120 Classic and didn't realize new navionic charts can be an issue for me.

[a64pilot]

I think the way of the future is the so much a month plan.
I bet soon you won't own any software, you will lease it for so much a month, you will be told how wonderful this is as you will always have up to date software.
Remember when TV was free, paid for by advertising? Then along came cable, which was great cause since you paid for it, it had zero advertising.
Now I pay $100 a month to watch TV, with more advertising than it had when it was free.

[zboss]

If we look at other companies they have acquired, they have not changed much except maybe the packaging and a facelift. For example, nexus wind instruments are pretty much the same as before. Same as inReach - they changed the packaging and design slightly but its still the same product.

Based on that history, it would be reasonable to expect little to change in the short term.

Frankly, the software written in adobe flash needs a complete refactoring and they really only mentioned the data and the user base as being valuable in their announcement. Either Jeff stays on board with a development staff and updates the software as a product manager, or they leave it alone and focus on incorporating the data into more instruments.

[Shrew]

Garmin can't bundle a feature then have the owner of the feature decided who gets access and who doesn't based on personal tantrums. This behavior would either force Garmin to drop the feature for fear of the spillover of bad press onto their name, or control the temper tantrums (i.e. buy out the owner).

[Tortuga's Lie]

I fear they will find a way to make it profitable for them(why wouldn't they?), which will be born on the shoulders of us cruisers. I also have Raymarine products and fear they will make it proprietary, or you will need to purchase an interface........
Maybe someone out there should start now and make a similar crowd sourced platform???!!!!

[SailFastTri]

I'm happy for Jeff and Karen. Not happy for the rest of us. Corporate agendas, etc.

[Tkeeth]

Originally Posted by Tortuga's Lie

I fear they will find a way to make it profitable for them(why wouldn't they?), which will be born on the shoulders of us cruisers. I also have Raymarine products and fear they will make it proprietary, or you will need to purchase an interface........
Maybe someone out there should start now and make a similar crowd sourced platform???!!!!

Seems we could add it to opencpn? Get that working and an open plotter and we are good

[jbinbi]

opencpn has squido, which is not quite as good as AC. But similar in functionality in the program, however not in a browser or mobile app.

I think Garmin might add the AC database to their chartplotters so you have it right on the boat. Maybe leave the regular web interface for anyone, but then you need to use it via the web. Having it on your chartplotter is a great think as you see all the info and can plot it as well. This gives Garmin the competitive advandtage, Raymarine and B&G wouldn't be able to offer this feature.

Dockwa has a similiar database and could possibly license this out. The long term model for the AC owners would have been to do license their database with each company, but I have no idea how much lump sum they got from Garmin and don't know their personal story either. Happy for them to see their efforts pay off.

[sailjumanji]

C-Map chips currently have Active Captain on them, which can be used in B&G chart plotters. Jeppeson Plan2nav has it on my Android phone, and that is constantly updated. I suspect both of these will end soon.

[mogulskibum]

Originally Posted by Dymaxion

If there is any subscription fee imposed, will people still keep contributing as freely?

Ding, ding, ding, ding! This is the biggest question.

The value of activecaptain is that a whole bunch of people provide accurate and up-to-date information for free. If you start charging for access to that information, the number of people who will quit providing it is definitely greater than zero - and probably a lot larger than zero.

If the number of contributors starts to decline, the value of the data will also decrease. If that becomes a self-reinforcing process, it could result in the data eventually becoming so out-of-date that its value could even be less than zero.

There is almost no way Garmin isn't aware of this (although underestimating the ignorance/hubris of large corporations is all too easy to do, and I could be doing it now).

My best guess is that Garmin will:

1. Port the data into their maps / hardware, and charge a fee to access it that way.
2. It will still be free to for anyone to access on the web.
3. They might provide an API for others to port the data into their platforms.

If they ever break #2, I can see the number of contributors dropping to near zero rather quickly.

#3 is where it will be interesting to see what they do.

• They could lock the API so the only access points are Garmin products or the free website - it would be hard to predict how that would affect their contributor base, but would it decline to the point to destabilize the value of the whole platform?
• They could make the API available for free for non-commercial purposes. That would be great for OpenCPN users and free plug-in developers.
• I almost can't imagine them making it available for free for commercial purposes - Raymarine, B&G, (and any paid OpenCPN plug-in developers - are there any? does the GNU allow that?) etc will almost definitely have to pay a fee if they want to incorporate the data into their products.

[SFS]

Well, that is a real shame. It was a great service/product.

[Dymaxion]

Haven't read the fine print, but while the owners of the site created and own the platform and domain, the content was user generated. Who owns that copyright? Can it all be downloaded and then reissued via a new public/open platform? Bit early for such speculation, but if Garmin gets greedy it may be too late to do anything much other than pay pay pay....

[Tornadosailing]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Two guys, Garmin is a mix of their names, story is they worked for Bendix / King in Kansas and tried unsuccessfully to get King into GPS navigation, King wouldn't listen so they started their own company.
I don't know how true this is or not, good friend of mine used to work with Gary in Kansas at Bendix / King so I got this second hand, but he is a reliable guy, doesn't stretch the truth

This is a true story. My shop is about a mile from Garmin HQ and I have a number of Garmin employees as customers, including the lead engineer for the marine division.

Gary Burrell is a native of Stillwell Kansas, who partnered with Min Kao, a Taiwanese electrical engineer, to form Gar(y)Min. Garmin. They were both working for King Radio, an avionics manufacturer in Olathe Kansas. They pitched the idea of GPS avionics systems to King, and were shot down.

Garmin started in Gary's garage in Olathe, but quickly moved to a location in nearby Lenexa. Now Garmin's world HQ is back in Olathe, and it seems like they're always expanding their campus.

I recently ordered a new FP Helia 44, and spec'd Garmin electronics. I've read about a few people who have had trouble with their autopilot, most of which seem to be related to setup problems. There are other features Garmin has that I think I'll really like such as the Shadow Sensor on the autopilot. I'm hopeful that if I do have trouble with it, my "in" at Garmin will prove useful.

[Opie91]

AC welcome to the Dark Side.....

[Argyle38]

Originally Posted by mogulskibum

My best guess is that Garmin will:

1. Port the data into their maps / hardware, and charge a fee to access it that way.
2. It will still be free to for anyone to access on the web.
3. They might provide an API for others to port the data into their platforms.

If they ever break #2, I can see the number of contributors dropping to near zero rather quickly.

I agree, this seem like the most productive path forward for them. If they do drop #2 I certainly would not continue contributing.