Will it be possible to download charts (possibly for selected areas) and run iOS app off grid?
Similar as the desktop version of Coastal Explorer, you are able to download NOAA raster charts and use them offline.
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How about downloading satellite imagery for off grid use? Is that possible.
I’m assuming that the finished app will provide for not only Raster Charts but Vector and S-52 as well?
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OK … but don’t do that. This is an iOS app and should conform to both established UI standards and higher usability expectations. iOS apps uniformly allow users to select an area and then maps/charts are downloaded without user knowing details. These is the basic principals of ‘complexity hiding’ and encapsulation. YOU are the experts not US. Look at Google Maps, Boating (Navionics), Gaia gps etc.for examples of established conventions. DON’T make users go through a difficult arcane process to do a simple task.
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We hope to eventually have many downloadable chart options, but for now only NOAA RNC may be downloaded. Most of the other options not only require additional development work, but also licensing negotiations which means that what we can support is not completely in our control. We will announce new chart types and sources as we can make them available, but not before that. I can say that we will have vector charts at some point (after all, NOAA is discontinuing the RNC), but that is not likely to happen before the beta is over.
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Definitely, love the hybrid vector charts and use them exclusively.
Understood … however aside from requiring user to accept license fee I’m simply commenting on how you get to the list of charts for a selected region. Watching the app redraw as I resize/move tells me YOU KNOW which charts are being used for a region. So use that same knowledge to build a list and give the user the option of paying if required (as in Canada). Thanks for your consideration 
Just started with CE on iPhone. Not able to download charts for offline use. Download seems to start but never gets past 14%.
Same issue for me on charts however I did get to about 16% before things stalled out.
I just tried downloading the Seattle to Canadian Border raster chart region on both my iPad and iPhone SE, both running build 46. The package appears to have installed properly. What version of the app are you currently running on your phone and which region are you trying to download? Was this on a cellular connection or via wifi?
Hello, if you could take a look at my response to cap1 in this thread and provide answers to the questions I asked it could prove helpful in tracking down the problem.
I am running build 46 on an iPhone X connected to the internet via wifi. I have tried to download WEST GULF OF ALASKA and it seems to have stopped at 9% this time. I have also tried to download EAST GULF OF ALASKA with no success. I just tried downloading SEATTLE TO CANADIAN BORDER. It seems to have stopped at 8%.
Thanks Aaron
Are you using a home wifi network or a marina wifi network? Also, how much storage space do you currently have on your iPhone? To check this, go to Settings>General>iPhone Storage.
I just got some additional information that may be relevant to your case. When you go to download the charts, are you tapping install and then leaving the iPhone unattended? If so the iPhone is likely going to sleep. There is a known limitation in the app’s downloading capabilities where it can’t resume downloading when device is brought out of sleep, nor can it download while the device is sleeping. So currently, if you do go to download chart packages, you must make sure your phone doesn’t go to sleep until the download is finished.
iPhone going to sleep was the problem. Now I have charts to use offline. I can start using the new CE app! Thanks for your help Aaron.
I iinstalled beta version 49 on my iPAD. I ‘cleared out’ the old charts per instructions and then went to download the charts for offline use. I tried several times and had a crash each time that I forwarded to you. I think I have more than sufficient space on my iPAD. I thought perhaps I had requested too big of an area )Seattle to Campbell River), so I tried again to just the San Juans, and had the same issue. Thanks very much, Dan
Observing very slow download of charts with iPhone X. Started attempts with area for all WA waters then reduced area size to finally get a complete download. Even an 18000 tile of just central Puget Sound download took over an hour, Phone was not going to sleep. A speed test during attempts showed download speed of 73 mbps. Previous charts were removed prior to download attempts.
Build 49: using iPad Pro with 256GB capacity. I’m trying to find how to delete all saved charts and start over selecting a much bigger area. Will it eventually be possible to download a complete region for offline use? When I get underway I sometimes do not have Internet or reliable cell coverage for days as we move offshore up the coast. Having the East coast already downloaded would be great. Will that be possible when the CE app is finished? Thanks.
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We are working on improving the chart download situation. Coastal Explorer is currently using a service that NOAA provides to get at the charts and we need to build our own system to solve these problems. It is going to take a while, but we are working on it as fast as we can.
For now we recommend not downloading large areas. Our new system will allow larger areas to be downloaded in a more reasonable amount of time.