I am a long time user of CE. I haven’t updated because I prefer the NavBar, that has been eliminated from current versions. That’s another story, today I need help with apple CE. I’m considering getting an iPad so I can use it while I’m away from the laptop in the wheelhouse. I installed the app on my iPhone so I could get a feel for how it works. Pretty underwhelming so far. There is no icon for the tug. If I hit the locate button it jumps to the correct location, but no icon or predictor vector. My main question is what are my options for getting ais data. I don’t want to spend the money for an iPad with cellular capability. The WiFi version doesn’t have an internal GPS. Can I link my laptop and iPad via WiFi and repeat the laptop data on the iPad. SeaIQ will let me do this allowing to read current nav data anywhere on the vessel. I would rather use CE if I can make it work. I am hesitant to put up $50 for a subscription that may not work any better than the free version. Another thing while I’m on the soapbox, being a registered user of CE I am allowed to install it on a limited number of computers. A yearly subscription to have a version on Apple devices seems excessive. I will be grateful for any help in this matter.
Right. The unpaid for version cannot connect to any marine electronics, including the buit-in GPS. This is one of the things paying turns on, and the ability to download charts onto the local device, so they don’t have to be streamed over a live internet connection.
Yes, you can do what you describe, but only after paying for the app. There are two subscription models: $20 per month, or $50 per year. Since the free version can’t do what you want, perhaps start with the $20 for a month, so you can do your testing and learning, etc., then get the $50/yr when the $20 expires. This might be a reasonable path for you.
I have to accept that CE and Apple CE are different products. I still would like to know why I don’t have my boats icon, vector, cog or sog. If I get an apple subscription, how many devices can I use it on? Finally how do I copy my waypoints/routes from my laptop to my iPhone. Appreciate the support.
Without knowing what your position is, we cannot display your boat. To know what your position is, we need access position sensor. It’s not posssible to connect to a position sensor in the free version.
Sorry, I neglected to answer all your questions.
Since you are running an old version of Coastal Explorer, you’ll have to copy your .nob files to a cloud storage solution, like Apple’s iCloud Drive, then use the iPad app’s layer import feature. Click Layers > Import…, then Choose File. At this point, you’ll be able to browse your iCloud Drive, Google Drive, etc. to import the file to a Cloud Synchronized Layer, a feature your version of Coastal Explorer has no awareness of.
Also, to add more context about the free version of the app, it is intended as a planning tool, not a navigation system. If you had an updated version of Coastal Explorer, you would see these Cloud Synchronized layers on all your PC CE systems as well, as long as the app is signed into your psbangs account.
You can install the app on as many of your Apple mobile devices (iPad and iPhone) as you want.
Your app obviously knows my position because when I hit the “find ship” button it immediately centers my position, but no icon, vector, cog or sog. Strangely if I pull up coastalerplorer.net I get the vessel icon, but nothing else.
Yes, iPadOS can provice an approximate location from nearby WiFi, even if you don’t have a GPS in your iPad. Purchasing a subscription will give you access to the boat symbol, Instrument Panel features (like SOG…), along with the other things I’ve mentioned earlier.