Marine Navigation App Criteria
Our ranking of best marine navigation/charting apps
Marine Navigation App Criteria
We receive emails asking us how to select marine navigation apps and why i-Boating is better than this XYZ app they have downloaded. In this guide, we discuss some of the popular marine navigation apps. We have used the following criteria to select the apps:
- Quality of chart rendering: The charts need to look similar and should have the same level of detail that’s available on ECDIS systems. If the charts look like mickey mouse maps, then we do not select it.
- Chart data sources: Does the app only use off the shelf charts or includes data from multiple sources?
- Can you try the application without sharing a credit card? Applications that force customers to share their payment info for trial did not make our list.
- Supported platforms: The application must support both iOS and Android with similar feature sets. If an application has poor support for Android, it did not make our list.
- Advanced features: For the selected applications, we delve deep into the intricacies of how well these features work.
- Should not have obvious bugs: For some apps, its very obvious to tell they won’t work for longer trips and will have obvious quality issues. Those apps were not considered.
i-Boating
i-Boating is the most comprehensive marine navigation app available in the market. It supports the most number of platforms and devices and the most feature rich application.
|
Feature |
Comment |
|
Quality of chart rendering |
i-Boating has the best chart rendering of all. It shows the best chart detail. |
|
Chart data sources |
Multiple data sources are used to create charts. |
|
Offline charts |
Yes |
|
Sonar Charts |
Yes |
|
Relief Shading |
Yes |
|
Automatic Routing |
Yes |
|
Management of routes, tracks, waypoints |
Yes |
|
Tide & Currents |
Yes |
|
Marine Weather |
Yes |
|
Public/Private Ownership Overlay |
Yes |
|
Fishing AI |
Yes |
|
Lake Temperature Maps |
Yes |
|
3rd party developer tools |
Yes |
|
iOS support |
Yes |
|
Android support |
Yes |
|
Windows support |
Yes |
|
MacOS support |
Yes |
|
NMEA/AIS support |
Yes |
|
Background satellite imagery/street maps |
Yes. Multiple satellite imagery sources can be selected under settings. |
|
WMTS |
Yes. For selective customers. |
|
Trial is customer friendly. |
Yes. No credit card is needed to try. |
|
GPX support |
Yes. |
Navionics
Navionics is the most
popular marine navigation app available in the market.
|
Feature |
Comment |
|
Quality of chart rendering |
Yes and No. While the charts looks good, they render very slow. |
|
Chart data sources |
Multiple data sources are used to create charts. |
|
Offline charts |
Yes |
|
Sonar Charts |
Yes |
|
Relief Shading |
Yes |
|
Automatic Routing |
Yes |
|
Management of routes, tracks, waypoints |
Yes |
|
Tide & Currents |
Yes |
|
Marine Weather |
No |
|
Public/Private Ownership Overlay |
No |
|
Fishing AI |
No |
|
Lake Temperature Maps |
No |
|
3rd party developer tools |
Yes |
|
iOS support |
Yes |
|
Android support |
Yes |
|
Windows support |
No |
|
MacOS support |
No |
|
NMEA/AIS support |
Yes |
|
Background satellite imagery/street maps |
No |
|
WMTS |
No |
|
Trial is customer friendly. |
Yes. No credit card is needed to try. |
|
GPX support |
Yes. |
Aquamap
|
Feature |
Comment |
|
Quality of chart rendering |
Yes and No. While charts look good,some people do not like landscape support. |
|
Chart data sources |
Multiple data sources are used to create charts. |
|
Offline charts |
Yes |
|
Sonar Charts |
No |
|
Relief Shading |
No |
|
Automatic Routing |
Yes |
|
Management of routes, tracks, waypoints |
Yes |
|
Tide & Currents |
Yes |
|
Marine Weather |
Yes |
|
Public/Private Ownership Overlay |
No |
|
Fishing AI |
No |
|
Lake Temperature Maps |
No |
|
3rd party developer tools |
No |
|
iOS support |
Yes |
|
Android support |
Yes |
|
Windows support |
No |
|
MacOS support |
No |
|
NMEA/AIS support |
Yes |
|
Background satellite imagery/street maps |
No |
|
WMTS |
No |
|
Trial is customer friendly. |
Yes. No credit card is needed to try. |
|
GPX support |
Yes. |
C-Map
|
Feature |
Comment |
|
Quality of chart rendering |
Yes and No. While charts look good, they can take longer to load. |
|
Chart data sources |
Multiple data sources are used to create charts. |
|
Offline charts |
Yes |
|
Sonar Charts |
Yes |
|
Relief Shading |
Yes |
|
Automatic Routing |
Yes |
|
Management of routes, tracks, waypoints |
Yes |
|
Tide & Currents |
Yes |
|
Marine Weather |
Yes |
|
Public/Private Ownership Overlay |
No |
|
Fishing AI |
No |
|
Lake Temperature Maps |
No |
|
3rd party developer tools |
Yes |
|
iOS support |
Yes |
|
Android support |
Yes |
|
Windows support |
No |
|
MacOS support |
No |
|
NMEA/AIS support |
No |
|
Background satellite imagery/street maps |
Yes |
|
WMTS |
No |
|
Trial is customer friendly. |
No. Requires credit card. |
|
GPX support |
Yes. |
Our ranking of best marine navigation/charting apps
- i-Boating
- Navionics
- Aqua Map
- C-Map
Marine Navigation App Faq
Q1. I downloaded this marine navigation app. But its not in your list. Why?
A1. We selected apps using the criteria listed above. Most likely your app does not have the map quality that seasoned navigators are used to or one of it does not match one of the criteria listed above.
Q2. Why did you included C-Map in your list even though it requires payment info/credit card for trial?
A2. It was not in our initial list. But it was added after it was brought to our attention that it lets you try most features without payment info/credit card.
Q3. What is the best marine navigation app for iOS?
A3. i-Boating offers the most comprehensive feature set and charts in our comparison.
Q4. Can marine navigation apps replace chartplotters?
A4. Yes. Please make sure that you have digital redundancy as well as essential physical backups.
Q5. What other apps did you consider for inclusion in your list?
A5. We considered the following apps. But they did not qualify our criteria for inclusion.
- Knowwake
- Argo
- Savvy Navvy
- Wavve
- iNavx
- One boat network/Humminbird