*/I expect they will add a symbal to, "make my vessel show as an AIS
target on other plotters". All the data is being tracked anyway./*
With the navionics app, this would require a constant data connection.
Either satellite internet, or cell data service. This currently isn't a
great solution when on the water, but i t may happen once a lot of
people have sat service on their boat.
The beauty of AIS is that it is a universal standard. Any Garmin
solution would only work with their plotters and apps. Businesses don't
like universal standards, they would rather lock you into their platform
for a constant revenue stream.
*/My presumption was that precise was determined by GPS and standard was
integrated based on the available cell phone towers, which is inherently
less accurate./*
Incorrect. On android devices, "standard accuracy" is GPS. "Precise
accuracy" is a combination of both cell towers AND GPS.
Tablets and phones have tiny, internal, GPS antennas. They often have a
hard time to receive from enough satellites to get good accuracy. To get
a better signal, you use an external antenna, which the Navionics app
can receive via NMEA over wifi. We use a WiFi Bidirectional NMEA unit
that we paid less than $100 for. It allows external GPS, Depth, and
speed, to be sent via wifi to Navionics on our waterproof android tablet
and our phones.
*/I suppose the higher cost for the charts on the Garmin plotter vs the
low cost of the Navionics mobile app for an IPad or phone is because
there are a lot more folks using the mobile devices than boaters keeping
up to date charts in their chart plotters./*
/This has more to do with the market they are selling to. Navionics was
designed to be a reasonably priced alternative to overpriced nav
systems. Garmin bought them to remove them from competition. Garmin
would likely love to charge the Navionics app boaters (who are used to
the cheap navionics price) the same as they charge the people who spend
a pile of money on dedicated plotters and their overpriced charts. Over
time I can see Garmin slowly increasing the navionics app subscription
price to better match their normal business model./
*/FWIW, I like Garmin and have for a long time, but I’m not happy with
everything it does (like buying and phasing out Nexus instruments)./*
That is their whole business model. Buy out competitors or innovators.
Garmin is mainly a hardware company, and wants to sell you their
hardware and their charts at high prices. The worst thing that happened
to Navionics, is them being bought by Garmin.
Another was when Garmin acquired Active Captain from Karen and Jeffery
Siegel...taking crowd sourced data, that anyone could access, and
turning it into a Garmin product https://panbo.com/?s=active+captain
------------
One feature that is nice is the ability to use live depth finder data,
to update charts. I assume it was developed as a way to acquire free
crowd-sourced depth data, on lakes that are not, or rarely are,
surveyed. Thank you to the original Navionics company for SonarCharts.
Back when Garmin and Navionics were separate companies... Navionics was
making Garmin MFD compatible charts, have SonarChart ability. Garmin
intentionally patched their software so it wouldn't work.
https://panbo.com/the-navionics-sonarcharts-for-garmin-conflict-messy-business/
Cheers, Roy C&C 30 Mark 1
