Offline maps are useless with apps that phone home

[Jammer]

I recently moved away from the Navionics mobile app because I had problems with it failing during extended cruising in remote areas. It would periodically attempt to contact Navionics for some sort of authorization token and would refuse to display its charts if it couldn't connect.


Turns out that C|Map does the same thing (see photo). I had painstakingly downloaded offline charts for the area I would be in, and they worked for a day or two. A restart of my phone triggered the authentication cycle. No internet to be had at that particular island so I used other chart sources for a day.



These problems are hard to smoke out because the app vendors appear to use long delays (days) and combinations of events (actually using the app, restarts) to trigger reauthentication, which is silent if successful.


Cruisers who frequent remote areas and use any of the mobile charting applications should take this as a warning.

[SailingHarmonie]

This is not always a problem. If the app can connect with your MFD on the local wireless network, and it sees the appropriate chart there, it is "authenticated" and useable. Many boats also have starlink, so the authentication process is invisible to them.

This can be problematic if you use your iPad on a delivery, as I often do.

It's why my primary tablet navigation program is iSailor. None of these games. And you buy the charts forever, even if you cancel the update subscription. Finally, the charts come from a different source (in most places) than the Navionics charts I use on my MFD, so I have a "second independent opinion"

[Tin Tin]

Try switching off wifi and data on your device, works on my ipad. Still get all the maps stored offline from years ago.


So if you have moved away from Navionics what have you moved to that is better with offline maps and no internet?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Tin Tin

So if you have moved away from Navionics what have you moved to that is better with offline maps and no internet?

At this point I'm looking at options and am thinking about going through the complex steps required to update the charts on my 15 year old but working Raymarine C90w chartplotter. I can't replace the chartplotter without also replacing the radar, making it an expensive undertaking.


My strategy up until now has been to use the C90w mainly for radar and use a phone for charting, particularly in areas where high-resolution depth data is important.


To update the charts on the C90w would require me to purchase a CompactFlash interface for my PC, and a CompactFlash card, then download the charts of interest, and hope that they actually work when I put the card in the chartplotter. Reports have been mixed from people who have done this.

[sv_pelagia]

One more reason we use OpenCPN....

[sailorboy1]

I used AquaMaps for used and it worked great as long as you used a device with its' own GPS. Yes sometimes it would go crazy for a minute and the boat would travel 600 miles and then come back.

[wholybee]

Navionics (unless it has changed recently) seems to only want to authenticate if there is a network connection. Turn off wifi and cellular data, and it works fine. The problem is that I have a network connection to receive AIS, but that network connection doesn't provide Internet.

I don't think the app developers for these apps own boats. They are probably outsourced to randoms programmers in India or China.

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

One more reason we use OpenCPN....

Or qtVlm if you want to run it on iOS as well as the other platforms. Here it is with satellite, Navionic, and the official paid for charts. All offline.

[Cheyne]

I haven't had a problem with Navionics offline maps. I have most of the US East Coast and the entire Great Loop downloaded to both my iPad Pro and my iPhone. I do updates ever now and then. Now a days I'm connected 100% of the time due to Starlink, but prior to that I would download everything I need and never had a problem. Now both my devices are 1Tb. I also have the same downloaded for C-Map and Aquamaps.

Cheyne

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Sabado

Or qtVlm if you want to run it on iOS as well as the other platforms. Here it is with satellite, Navionics, and the official paid for charts. All offline.

<my long rant deleted>
qtVlm is impossibly difficult to learn. I gave up.

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by wholybee

<my long rant deleted>
qtVlm is impossibly difficult to learn. I gave up.

Yeah, it isn't like the Navionics Boating app that is install and go. There is a really good manual and David Burch has great instructional videos on YT. We spent time while crossing the Pacific to learn it and now it's second nature but it was a time investment for sure.

[Kijit]

I use Aquamap on our small powerboat. I get AIS and position data from a local wifi network on the boat, but there is no internet connection when underway and all works fine. On the sailboat, we use Aquamap and OpenCPN with both getting data from an onboard local wifi network. Again, no similar issues.

[ozolli]

Originally Posted by wholybee

<my long rant deleted>
qtVlm is impossibly difficult to learn. I gave up.

It really is personal. I find it easier to use than OpenCPN. Especially with grib files and routing.

[Benz]

One more reason to use paper charts.
Navionics pulled an update stunt on us in the middle of Baffin Bay. Even with an Iridium to call the rep and sort it out, it was a potential disaster (except that I had a running fix going on paper), and we never really got the Navionics properly sorted, just...sort of sorted.
I have never had a paper chart stop working because of updates...

[ranger58sb]

We use AquaMap on tablets/phone and TimeZero on a laptop (or there's TZ iBoat, for iThings) for backup to our MFDs.

Charts are on the devices, no Internet needed except for occasional chart updates.

-Chris