WaterNav maps app not working with IOS 13.1.2 on iPad

[gbclive]

5 minutes ago, Seajays said:

Please post again should you find a solution

Will do.

It’s on my to-do list for January, to contact Alexander for an update on her progress.

Watch this space?

[Seajays]

I contacted RCR this morning and have just this reply. It reads:

 

"Due to the IOS update change that Apple have done it has resulted in developers having to overhaul all their current apps. Once we have a replacement fully in place and Apple approved we will be looking to update all apps. Due to the required checks we do not have a release date at the moment." 

 

Lets hope it doesnt take them too long

 

Cheers,

and lets hope for a good cruising season

[WotEver]

That iOS update also broke several banking apps around the world. Naturally those developers worked very fast to fix them. 

[David Mack]

On 07/10/2019 at 22:19, gbclive said:

Thanks Arthur - I did speak to their boss lady earlier this year to point out that after reporting many errors and offering suggestions to improve the app. I had not received a single reply or acknowledgement. Further, not one of the errors had subsequently been corrected.

At the end of the call I was left with a distinct feeling that I had been weeing into the wind?

So I’m not holding out much hope, but would love to be proved wrong.

 

 

I'd just like to contrast this with my experience of Canalplan. I reported a couple of bugs last year, and both were corrected within a few days. Not bad service for a free app!

[Mike Todd]

I suspect it is unlikely to be a commercial success for RCR. Even the well-established Nicholsons paper maps have been through a torrid few years with supposedly new editions having little if any updating for some time, though I notice that they did seem to promise a new commitment a few months back. 

 

There are several app type developments but I suspect none are ever likely to make profitable business. The size of the market, even if every boater had one, is just not big enough.

 

I have a personal application (mainly Windows based) which has been a hobby project for about a decade so I know something about the something of the work involved. It does not help when the suppliers of the undermaps (esp OS) keep changing the API.

 

Added to this is the fact that CaRT have their own online mapping which will meet the simpler needs.

 

The past year I have moved over to using WaterWay Routes by Paul Balmer alongside Nicholsons and an aging library of OS maps. For ease of use when steering, I have printed off maps as needed and laminated with a cheap laminator. At present this is my main info but my Windows system, linked into a GPS device, is used for route planning and real time logging. It provides key information on a large font display. I suspect that this is a much a labour of love for Paul as anything else. Apps of this type all suffer from the database characterisation that they often cost as much each year to maintain as they did to set up in the first place. This is usually only commercially sustainable in large markets. Personal projects also have to break through the barrier of becoming sustainable when the originator is no longer able or willing in continuing the support. Few of these projects crack the marketing angle.

 

It may well be that after a time there will be some consolidation in the market with the stronger candidates staying the course and becoming the de facto standard. Others then drop away. Remember (I think the names are right) First Mate Guides with their pop-to shops or the excellent Richlow Guides?

 

All of this explains why I have never attempted to make my own work available to others!

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Mike Todd

[Arthur Marshall]

The impression I got from the original eCanal app writer was that it was as much a hobby that he'd turned into a business as anything else, rather like the old CanalPlanner that broke down when the original programmer died and his son took over, then emigrated and dumped it (although the penultimate version still works, and is on my website if anyone wants it).  As Mike says, I can't see it ever being a commercial success, certainly not at those prices anyway, and unless it's updated constantly it's really not much better than one of the offline versions of OpenStreet  Map.  I tend to use Maps.ME with the canal overlay to find shops etc these days as it's constantly updated, works better, while the eCanal maps are very clunky to use.  I only use the latter if I'm directing people to find the boat as it names locks and bridges etc.

[lampini]

5 hours ago, Seajays said:

When I click on the icon I just get a notification saying "This App is no longer available in the App Store" and won't open which is strange.

 

Yes, I also have a much dog-eared selection of Nicholsons guides but I much prefer using a combination of "Canalplan" for route planning and WaterNav for local information whilst cruising. These have become my preferred method of finding my way about the system in recent years. If needs must then I could always use "Open Canal Map" that I check for stoppages and gps etc. but I still like the WaterNav Interface.

 

Please post again should you find a solution

 

 

I have the broads one and the Midlands one, bought ages ago and have had exactly the same problem! 
 

May give RCR a ring tomorrow and add a little bit of pressure to fix them, they have been pretty useful tbh... 

 

And anyway - I paid out for them and I jolly well expect them to work! ?

 

Glad it’s not just me... 

[frangar]

All this convinces me that paper is best....my BW blue guides from the 60’s still work perfectly....

[cuthound]

2 hours ago, frangar said:

All this convinces me that paper is best....my BW blue guides from the 60’s still work perfectly....

 

And they don't cause confusion by showing irrelevant detail like bends in the canal. ??

[frangar]

1 minute ago, cuthound said:

 

And they don't cause confusion by showing irrelevant detail like bends in the canal. ??

They are from an era when people were expected to have common sense and could see a bend approaching....this seems to be lacking now.....

[gbclive]

3 hours ago, lampini said:

May give RCR a ring tomorrow and add a little bit of pressure to fix them, they have been pretty useful tbh... 

I spoke to RCR this afternoon, however Alexander was not at work today, so I was promised a call back when she next is.

 

[gbclive]

WaterNav Update - just spoke to Alex at RCR and the latest info is that the task of recoding the app to run on the latest version of IOS hase been out sourced to a contractor and she is still hopeful of a resolution by the spring.