External Bluetooth GPS with Windows tablets (Surface Pro, Surface RT, Surface Book etc.)

We've recently added support for external bluetooth GPS receivers for Windows device. Step by step instructions, details, supported device are available at the following page on our website.

• Guide to using External bluetooth GPS with windows tablets

We have tested on a variety of devices incl. using an Android phone as bluetooth GPS provide for a Toshiba laptop running Windows 8.1. Please do verify with your bluetooth device to be sure that it works.

i-Boating localized to multiple languages

We've recently translated i-Boating to multiple languages.  Localized version of the app is already available for Android. The localized version for  iOS will become available as soon as it is approved by Apple.

Here is a list of languages in which the app is now available.

• German
• Dutch
• Finnish
• Norwegian
• English 

Finland and Norway marine charts and lakes are now available.

We are pleased to announce the availability of  Finland and Norway marine charts and lakes in i-Boating.  The coverage is derived from vector data and updated regularly, using updates provided via collaboration with Finnish and Norwegian Hydrographic offices.
For Finland the coverage also includes bathymetry/depth maps of inland lakes.

• i-Boating Android
• i-Boating iOS

Coverage for Windows platform will be added in upcoming week.

iBook on Route Planning by Mr C J Medway

Mr. CJ Medway, a world renowned author on several book on route planning has recently published an i-Book on route planning using the latest version of i-Boating.

• iTunes link for route planning using i-Boating

The book is a step by step guide, illustrating  how the data required for making safe and efficient route for small boats, using the tidal currents can be derived from the iPad.

Thanks a lot Chris for publishing this book.

i-Boating Android: Marine & Lakes vector maps

We are pleased to announce the availability of marine vector maps for Android. The app uses built in GPU to render marine and vector lakes maps.   The hardware acceleration allows us the app to have high frame rates  (60+ fps).

Please download the marine navigation  vector maps Android client by clicking on the link below and give us your feedback.

• Google Play link for Marine & Lakes Vector Maps

Main features of the new i-Boating client for Android are:

• Native GPU acceleration: Native GPU rendering is available on all architectures (ARM, Intel & MIPS) - both 32 bit and 64 bit variants
• Rotate maps using gestures
• Text stays upright on rotation.
• Change depth units (ft, metre fathom)
• Seamless maps
• HD contours
• Hybrid renderer
• Route Editing
• Auto Follow 
• Track Recording
• Route Assistance with voice prompts
• Tides & Currents

GPU accelerated Marine Vector Maps for iOS

We are thrilled to announce our new  i-Boating iOS app for marine charts. It uses our recently engineered renderer that is capable of showing both vector (ENC/Shapefile/KML) as well as raster (BSB/KAP) data: end result is beautiful, detailed and fast charts rendering.

Please download the marine & lake vector maps iOS client by clicking on the link below and give us your feedback.

• Download link for marine & lake vector maps iOS

Main features of the i-Boating client.

• GPU accelerated: The new marine navigation map renderer has been re-implemented to take advantage of the Apple A7, A8, SGX 543, SGX 535 GPUs for rendering. This allows us to have high refresh rates (60 fps).
• Rotate maps using gestures: Just like Apple Maps, you can rotate maps using fingers.
• Text stays upright on rotation: Text rendering happens in GPU enabling high refresh rate for text rendering upon rotation.
• Analog zoom: Most maps client use digital zoom levels. For e.g. zooming in takes one to discrete zoom levels (e.g. 13, then 14 etc.). We support analog zoom i.e. when you zoom in/out, the app takes you to more finer zoom levels (e.g. 13. 01, 13.02, 13. 03... and so on).
• Advanced Collision detection on client:  When you zoom in/out or rotate maps, relevant symbols appear (on zooming in) and disappear (on zooming out).
• Seamless maps: All maps have been pre-converted into our seamless maps format. The renderer automatically shows relevant depending on map scale.
• HD Contours: We do not charge extra for HD lake contours.   If you do sonar logging and are willing to share it with us, we will be happy to create contours for you.
• Hybrid renderer: We understand that there are regions which haven't been fully vectorized or where raster charts have more details.  Our new GPU based renderer is capable of handling both data simultaneously.