The New ActiveCaptain

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

This is one of my frustrations with Garmin. They do have a very proprietary chart format that they don't share with anyone. Garmin does not want anyone developing charts for their hardware and unfortunately there are a lot of pretty cool products out there. I had a Garmin and purchased a Simrad GO7 for my flats boat because of this.

https://www.floridamarinetracks.com/

Also not really happy to see all of the patent infringement suits against Garmin for sonar transducer developed by Hummingbird and Simrad/Lowrance.

That is a cool resource for flats boats and I agree, not happy that Garmin keeps their format proprietary. However see CarlF's comments below.

Originally Posted by CarlF

I much prefer Garmin's charts. For $100 I get the whole US and Bahamas. There's no moving between different scale charts. No installation of lots of files. The text font is sized to be legible regardless of zoom level. The text is not upside down if I'm steering "course-up". The shading of shallow areas can be set as I want. I can reduce the the amount of clutter/detail. In these waters, accuracy seems as good good as other electronic charts or paper charts. Each has their problem areas. And if you use Garmin with AC on an Ipad the crowd sourcing makes the combination the most accurate charts available.

I have the same experience. The charts zoom and scale very nicely on my Garmin plotter, much better than viewing the standard NOAA charts on a typical viewer.

Also, I was researching a trip to Europe and started adding up all the paper charts or individual electronic charts to cruise UK and the western Med. I gave up when I reached five figures. For a little over $400 I can get all the Garmin charts for UK, Ireland, western Europe and most of the Med.

[Alberg30Shill]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Well more correctly, you are providing a very, very tiny fraction of the content along with hundreds or thousands of other users. Meanwhile the provider, in this case Garmin, provides the platform that includes hardware, software, maintenance, moderation, etc. I assume you know that this doesn't come free.

And if you are so opposed to some company profiting by your free contribution why are you on Cruisers Forum?

You are talking like someone with a corporate software mindset. You asked me for a realistic business model and I gave you one, open source. That model provides the platform that includes hardware, software, maintenance, moderation, etc. I assume you know that this does come for free with open source projects? Why not respond to my answer to your question?

[svmeanderer]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Garmin doesn't care about the tiny profit of AC - if there is one. They made $1.6B last year. AC isn't even a rounding error. The value of AC to Garmin is building a stronger brand in the marine space - as was behind the purchase of InReach (which also helped their business in aviation and back country outdoors).

Since it had to happen eventually, I really have trouble thinking of a many better acquirers of AC than Garmin. Can anyone else?

I know the owners of ActiveCaptain well. They had about 10 acquisition offers. In nearly every case, the company approaching them wanted to turn off ActiveCaptain for every other company except for their own products. Garmin was the only company who wanted to keep the data open for everyone (even their direct competitors). They wanted to provide great tools for the entire community.

Give them time to deliver on their promise. It has been 4 months since the acquisition. That's barely a start.

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by skipmac

That is a cool resource for flats boats and I agree, not happy that Garmin keeps their format proprietary. However see CarlF's comments below.



I have the same experience. The charts zoom and scale very nicely on my Garmin plotter, much better than viewing the standard NOAA charts on a typical viewer.

Also, I was researching a trip to Europe and started adding up all the paper charts or individual electronic charts to cruise UK and the western Med. I gave up when I reached five figures. For a little over $400 I can get all the Garmin charts for UK, Ireland, western Europe and most of the Med.

Have you guys used any of the other available charts (C-Map, Insight, Navionics) and been able to compare? Really just curious. I had a Garmin chart plotter/fish finder for a long time and purchased the blue charts. There really wasn't anything wrong with them but there wasn't really anything that much better either. Since I have had the Simrad I have the factory loaded Insight charts as well as I have purchased all of the Navionics US/Canada.

I am just a little disappointed that Garmin bought Active Captain because with Garmin's business model I would have to think that at some point it will only be available if you buy Garmin hardware. If they had partnered with another chart company, it would be available on just about everything but Garmin...

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by svmeanderer

I know the owners of ActiveCaptain well. They had about 10 acquisition offers. In nearly every case, the company approaching them wanted to turn off ActiveCaptain for every other company except for their own products. Garmin was the only company who wanted to keep the data open for everyone (even their direct competitors). They wanted to provide great tools for the entire community.

Give them time to deliver on their promise. It has been 4 months since the acquisition. That's barely a start.

That's good to hear but I will have to see that to believe it. That would be surprising for Garmin and to be honest, wouldn't make any business sense at all.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

I am just a little disappointed that Garmin bought Active Captain because with Garmin's business model I would have to think that at some point it will only be available if you buy Garmin hardware. If they had partnered with another chart company, it would be available on just about everything but Garmin...

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

[keping AC open] would be surprising for Garmin and to be honest, wouldn't make any business sense at all.

I'm always cynical when a big fish buys out a little fish, but if the big fish is smart, they will appreciate the reach and goodwill they can have by keeping AC as open as possible.

If the only new obligation is that you're required to sign up, and you maybe get emails from Garmin once in a while... that's still a pretty good deal. Sometimes companies do do the right thing.

[Hoosiersailor]

From my understanding (and if I am wrong please let me know) is that Active Captain has been available for some time on plotters running C-Map charts. These plotters are Simrad, B&G, Lowrance, Furuno, Raymarine, etc. Almost everyone but Garmin.

Active Captain - C-MAP

Garmin only allows their own proprietary charts on their own plotters and I really don't see that changing just because they bought AC. What I would see changing is that AC would become available in Garmin charts and then at some time in the future when the contract runs out, it would longer be available on a competitor charts.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Alberg30Shill

You are talking like someone with a corporate software mindset. You asked me for a realistic business model and I gave you one, open source. That model provides the platform that includes hardware, software, maintenance, moderation, etc. I assume you know that this does come for free with open source projects? Why not respond to my answer to your question?

Corporate mindset? I don't think so. I am about as far from corporate one can be and operate a small business.

By the way, you have obviously confused me with someone else. I asked nothing of you or anyone on this thread about a business model. I merely pointed out the realities of running a web site. I am curious though to learn where one gets free hardware and software to set up a web site for open source or any other project. Who puts up the money for these free items?

[rwidman]

A lot of BS posted by people who have no idea what they are talking about!

The thread is about changes to the interface, not about why Garmin does this and that. Or more directly, why you think Garmin does this or that.

Have you used the interface? Do you like it? Do you not like it?

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by rwidman

A lot of BS posted by people who have no idea what they are talking about!

The thread is about changes to the interface, not about why Garmin does this and that. Or more directly, why you think Garmin does this or that.

Have you used the interface? Do you like it? Do you not like it?

I have and I like it. It works great sitting at computer and I have no issues with that. But that's not how I would like to use it.

Does it work on a chart plotter not connected to the internet?
Which brand chart plotters will it work with in the future?
What charts will it be integrated with in the future?

IMHO since Garmin now has AC these are important questions. It will affect the usability of the product much more than a nifty interface that works great on an iPad or computer connected to wifi. AC was going in the direction of making it very usable for the database to be downloaded and used on the boat. Now I am not sure, but would like to know.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

I have and I like it. It works great sitting at computer and I have no issues with that. But that's not how I would like to use it.

Does it work on a chart plotter not connected to the internet?
Which brand chart plotters will it work with in the future?
What charts will it be integrated with in the future?

IMHO since Garmin now has AC these are important questions. It will affect the usability of the product much more than a nifty interface that works great on an iPad or computer connected to wifi. AC was going in the direction of making it very usable for the database to be downloaded and used on the boat. Now I am not sure, but would like to know.

There's an Active Captain group on Facebook. Join it and ask away.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Hoosiersailor

I have and I like it. It works great sitting at computer and I have no issues with that. But that's not how I would like to use it.

Does it work on a chart plotter not connected to the internet?
Which brand chart plotters will it work with in the future?
What charts will it be integrated with in the future?

IMHO since Garmin now has AC these are important questions. It will affect the usability of the product much more than a nifty interface that works great on an iPad or computer connected to wifi. AC was going in the direction of making it very usable for the database to be downloaded and used on the boat. Now I am not sure, but would like to know.

There's an Active Captain group on Facebook. Join it and ask away. Get it from the horse's mouth.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by rwidman

A lot of BS posted by people who have no idea what they are talking about!

Thread drift into Lala Land.

Originally Posted by rwidman

Have you used the interface? Do you like it? Do you not like it?

Yes I have and overall I like it. In fact, in most ways it still works very much like the old interface. Specific comments:

1. Love/hate the new icons used for markers to show marinas, hazard, anchorages, and points of interest. On one hand they are larger and more distracting on the chart. However, the click to remove a category of markers is the same as before and easy to do and removes the distraction when wanted. Also, the blue markers for points of interest are much more informative than before, with different icons for boat ramps, bridges, channels, etc. This I like a lot.

2. Map size. The base map is slightly smaller due the the new menus and such but it takes a second or less to click the full page button which gives you a larger map than before so I like it.

3. Reverting to position on the map. The first couple of times I used it the map did start back at the world map but today it reverted back to the previous location. Maybe Garmin fixed that?

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by jackheape

Just wondering if it is just me, or is anyone else dissatisfied with the new ActiveCaptain interface? Why is it these web gurus always think newer is better? Sure, its prettier. But not as functional in my opinion. What happened to routes for instance? Both mine and everyone else's that I had access to? I hate that the owners sold out to Garmin (not one of my favorite companies) but it is their creation and most people want to make a buck. But I can already see and feel the conglomerate tentacles grasping and choking as it tries to wring a buck out of everything it does.
I have to give the new ActiveCaptain a big no-no . Anyone else have any thoughts?

I don't know that it drifted that far... Some comments on the interface and a little dissatisfaction with Garmin in the original post. Seems to go along just fine with the overall theme in this thread.

[rwidman]

I believe Mr. Siegel is still involved with the product, he just doesn't "own" it any more. He is a consultant or an employee. Maybe he will clarify this.