Active captain app -- no longer functional?

[RedneckRedcoat]

You could look at https://www.noforeignland.com/.
It’s becoming quite popular as well as Navily which is used by the CMaps Mobile App.

[r.stokes]

I too was a prolific poster, and was happy to do so when AC was owned by a "little guy". I still have my hard-earned hat! But I have no interest in giving away my updated knowledge to a "big guy" (Garmin).. As such AC has fallen completely off my radar..

[Pete the Cat]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

Active Captain in its previous form had the potential to destroy Garmin, so Garmin did what all large tech companies do -- buy the competition and smother it.


Want to make a billion or so? Start up a new version of Active Captain and make it successful. You too can be bought out ...

I know the folks who created Active Captain. You are exactly right. I loathe Garmin. It has become evil just like Microsoft. Fortunately, these companies tend, eventually, to self destruct. But they are always looking to buy upstarts just to kill them. It is the depressing side of capitalism. I support capitalism, but there need to laws and some rules. Technology is changing so fast that someone will figure out a new angle. Too bad about the lost input.

[Nicholson58]

When AC got funky & difficult I gave up. I got pointed to zuluwaterways.com Join and access lots of place data. I entered hundreds of points, mostly Caribbean including phots. Information includes C&I, restaurants, hiking, shopping, restaurants, dinghy docks and more

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Pete the Cat

...Fortunately, these companies tend, eventually, to self destruct...

I support capitalism, but there need to laws and some rules. Technology is changing so fast that someone will figure out a new angle. Too bad about the lost input.

First point, I'm not convinced Garmin will self-destruct. They have a loyal following in aircraft owners, and frankly boating is becoming more like aircraft ownership every day. There are plenty of "money is no object" boaters who love to buy new hardware every 18 months. Garmin will only gain market share as this segment of the market continues to grow.

Second point. There are already plenty of laws and rules. Jeff could have set AC up as open source, using any of the existing open-source licenses which are legally iron-clad with respect to copyright law. He chose to be compensated for his effort and his (great) idea. Good for him!

I'm a believer in capitalism. Jeff identified a need and worked hard to develop a product to meet it. If it turns out that Garmin fumbled the ball when they bought him out (I think so, but you could argue otherwise) then the need will still exist. Someone will come out of the woodwork to meet it.

I still think the best replacement would be an open-source add-on to OpenCPN.

Anyone???

[CarlF]

Amazing how people are still nursing this anger at Garmin ten years later.

As I remember, the old app was always a Garmin owned and developed product. I wish they hadn't stopped supporting it - but as I remember it was written in Flash that was going away anyways. Apple stopped supporting Flash in 2017. Flash always had serious security holes that hackers could penetrate.

The ActiveCaptain data/database is what Garmin acquired from Jeff and Karen and Garmin's done fine with that. It's still free for navigation apps to include and us to use. I can't remember the database every having problems under Garmin's ownership.

The Garmin ActiveCaptain web site is sometimes the easiest place to update markers. It's fast and it's free. I use it often because it has charts for just about everywhere in the world with no charge for charts.

My "Goto" app now is AquaMaps. It displays AC data better than the old app ever did and making new markers or adding more comments is quick and easy. It's a far better app than the old Garmin one. Aquamaps also has the Corp of Army engineers soundings (USACE) which is much more accurate than any crowdsourced data like AC.

I used to post as many as 100 comments a year when AC was new but these days most markers have plenty of comments. There's nothing wrong with a 2015 posting about a rock - rocks don't move much. I don't think it does any good to just repeat the same information that is still correct. My first marker from 2011 is still there and accurate (a sandbar on Cape Cod).

[AnsleyS]

You are correct in finding that the adding, editing or moving of Active Captain Community points of interest are not available on the mobile app. One must be on the Active Captain website and be logged into an active account to add or change POI's.


The mobile app will report POI's but are not changeable through it. The strength of this system and the Garmin QuickDraw Community is the reports and reviews from numerous boaters from all over the world. The Active Captain and the Quick Draw communities are Garmin functions so changing these points must be done through a Garmin system

[David Mathis]

For about 40 years, I've bought only Garmin electronic products for my boats and had always been happy with the equipment - until Active Captain. It's a great idea when it works but it's caused more frustration than all other marine electronics combined. When it was introduced, it was only a day or two between sending the data to Garmin and being able to have it on the IPad and plotter; today I called customer service about not being able to retrieve the data and was told it might take several weeks to process it. One might conclude that the program needed much more work before being released. It's a great idea but, at this point, a disappointment.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

When AC got funky & difficult I gave up. I got pointed to zuluwaterways.com Join and access lots of place data. I entered hundreds of points, mostly Caribbean including phots. Information includes C&I, restaurants, hiking, shopping, restaurants, dinghy docks and more

Yep, I use zuluwaterways.com and activecaptain (website) to put in our own information as we mainly travel around in this area (St. Lawrence, 1000 Islands & Great Lakes). AC integration with Navionics charts is good enough.

If you have an internet connection they work fine. I never understood the AC app and have barely used the ZW app.

[KayZee]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

Active Captain in its previous form had the potential to destroy Garmin,

Nice hyperbole. I'm not sure how letting AC lapse destroys Garmin's making and selling of the number one selling brand of marine sound systems, one of the number 1 makers of hiker's gps, smart watches and OEM and aftermarket automotive gps's et. al. Garmin did what all tech companies do; reevaluate whether or not a technology is driving enough sales to justify the resources necessary to maintain and improve it.


I'm about to do a wholesale system replacement of my circa '06 electronics. My last boat was Raymarine, this boat is Raymarine. Going with Raymarine would make sense but the erosion of their service is making me consider Garmin yet AC has absolutely no part of that decision. Local knowlege is pretty easy to come by these days.

[Sailmon]

I was a long time user of Garmin Blue Chart mobile on our iPad - traveled thousands of N miles - great lakes, US East coast, Bahamas, FL keys & FL west coast. Always worked well & great customer support - till they stopped supporting it & rolled out AC App - an amalgamation of Blue Chart & AC. Has never been the same although we continue to use AC App for navigation. Good to hear that the AC website continues to function well.
The old saying “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” would seem to apply to killing Blue Chart Mobile & launching AC App.
That all said, Garmin tech support continues to be far superior to RayMarine cust service.