WikiBoat - New worldwide directory of ports and anchorages

[Theo L]

Hello to the community,

I've launched an interactive map of ports and anchorages. After a year of hard work, the website is now live. I've successfully pre-loaded thousands of locations spanning approximately fifteen countries, primarily in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean so far, I'll continue to add more.
All users also have the capability to add newly discovered ports or anchorages to the map.
WikiBoat is edited by sailors sharing their notes and stories.

As you navigate the map, the results on the right-hand side will automatically refresh. Ports can be contacted with just a single click. On each entry, you'll find real-time weather forecasts via Windy, tide information, comments, and warnings from recent visitors, as well as a rating system.

Though I was initially flagged as a Marine Service Provider, which I understand, Ann eventually allowed me to add the link to my signature. That's where you can find it.
The app is designed to remain free for sailors. Since the project is just beginning, your initial comments and opinions will be invaluable.
Thank you for reading.

[Weatherbird]

Who owns the data?

[Stingo]

www.NoForeignLand.com does all that already

[azul_b]

And Navily app does all that also

[fxykty]

And Zulu Waterways

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Weatherbird

Who owns the data?

If it is free to you, you are not the customer. You are the product. Just like on this forum. Your eyeballs are being sold.

[Weatherbird]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

If it is free to you, you are not the customer. You are the product. Just like on this forum. Your eyeballs are being sold.

Who said anything about free?

The problem isn't that all the cruising apps cost money or that they're funded with ads or by selling personal data, it's that they own the community maintained data so anytime one of them gets too successful, an established company buys them and everyone using it loses.

If someone comes along and builds a free and open repository with a free and open api and an great paid app that sits on top of it, I'll be first in line. But, I'm not going to waste my time with The Next Great App so that the creators can sell out to Garmin.

[Theo L]

Very interesting point, @Weatherbird, thank you. Such an app relies more on reviews, similar to Trip Advisor, than on an official directory that could be purchased from Garmin.

Reviews sometimes add a layer of information, and other times they don't, but personally, I like to read them. I just aim to present this information in a convenient manner, alongside other details like satellite views, wind conditions, tides, and at the very least, the phone numbers and VHF channels for the ports.

For the others:
A monopoly is never a good thing. It stifles competition, can lead to reduced innovation, and often results in higher prices and poorer service for consumers. Without competition to keep them in check, monopolistic entities can exercise unchecked power and influence in the market, potentially harming both consumers and other businesses.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Theo L

Very interesting point, @Weatherbird, thank you. Such an app relies more on reviews, similar to Trip Advisor, than on an official directory that could be purchased from Garmin.

Reviews sometimes add a layer of information, and other times they don't, but personally, I like to read them. I just aim to present this information in a convenient manner, alongside other details like satellite views, wind conditions, tides, and at the very least, the phone numbers and VHF channels for the ports.

For the others:
A monopoly is never a good thing. It stifles competition, can lead to reduced innovation, and often results in higher prices and poorer service for consumers. Without competition to keep them in check, monopolistic entities can exercise unchecked power and influence in the market, potentially harming both consumers and other businesses.

You are not addressing the issue the WB brought up: longvity.

His/her complaint that the repository may suddenly be bought and disappear has happened, to wit: Active Captain. AC was an app and VERY large supporting crowd-sourced database that was bought by Garmin and shortly disappeared.

What are you doing to ensure that this doesn't happen with your app? I would think you would need to set up some sort of foundation to own & maintain the IP.

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by Weatherbird

Who said anything about free?

The problem isn't that all the cruising apps cost money or that they're funded with ads or by selling personal data, it's that they own the community maintained data so anytime one of them gets too successful, an established company buys them and everyone using it loses.

If someone comes along and builds a free and open repository with a free and open api and an great paid app that sits on top of it, I'll be first in line. But, I'm not going to waste my time with The Next Great App so that the creators can sell out to Garmin.

The content on Zulu Waterways (apps are Zulu Waterways or Zulu Offshore) is protected under a Creative Commons- Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA). This license works similar to wikipedia in that the database must be available for free access and may be shared by anyone with the exception of those wishing to use the database for commercial gain. Under the license anyone using the content also agrees that any additions or changes to the content is also protected under the same license. I’m one of the founders and we feel this is the best way to protect the public from having the content taken from them. We also don’t use any cookies nor advertise. The Zulu database is more heavily focused on the Southern Hemisphere however there is reasonable coverage for Europe and the US.

Good luck with your website. It can be a hard slog at the beginning to get people involved when there are already other established services, but if you offer something unique then I’m sure you’ll do well. If you ever want to chat then feel free to get in touch with me.

[sailingharry]

This is a really challenging situation.

Active captain has been mentioned. I spent a lot of time and a lot of effort adding reviews on AC. I also relied heavily on it. Then it got bought, access became much harder, and I'm finding it less and less useful.

A startup, Argo, came to my attention as an alternate. I started off enthusiastically helping it build a review database. But I'm one man, and I can only review places I've been. Since there are no reviews of any new place that I am thinking of going, I found I barely open it and as such, I've lost the momentum to keep adding reviews.

The problem with a monopoly like this is that size matters. If Brand X has 50,000 reviews, and Brand Y has 5,000 reviews, it will be hard for Brand Y to be relevant. Yes, a really good interface with extra features is nice, but if it doesn't have a review or five for a harbor I've never been to before, it is useless.

I live in Solomon's Island in Maryland. In front of my house is a nice anchorage. I don't think there are any reviews in this app for this anchorage. A mile down the creek at the main town is another anchorage. There are several marinas that have icons, but I can't open anything. There's a nice anchorage with no marks.

I can't use an app that has no reviews. I'm not going to attempt to build a review base on a new app. I am saddened by the death of AC, and wish there was a rising star to replace it. For those of us who love competition and a free market, review apps suffer from dilution. The more apps there are, the less any one has the information you need.

Perhaps an aggregating app that can pull reviews from various open source repositories and present them all might be the next big thing.