ActiveCaptain

The ActiveCaptain Interactive Cruising Guidebook is a great resource for information about marinas, anchorages, hazards, and other local knowledge for many cruising areas. ActiveCaptain is free to use, but requires that you register your email and password on their website. You enter the same email and password combination in SEAiq so it can download the Guidebook for you. Once downloaded, the ActiveCaptain Guidebook is available for offline use: you do not need to have an internet connection.

The Guidebook is composed of user-generated content written by your fellow mariners (but reviewed by ActiveCaptain). Currently, SEAiq only supports reading ActiveCaptain information. A future release of SEAiq will allow you to submit your own changes to the Guidebook. In the mean time, you can submit changes by visiting the ActiveCaptain web site on your laptop. Note the web site uses technology not available for Apple iPads and iPhones, so you may need to use a separate device for this.

Briefly, the Guidebook is organized around Markers. In SEAiq, Markers are visualized as pin tabs of different colors according to the type:

• Red: Marinas
• Green: Anchorages
• Blue: Local Knowledge (including Bridges and Locks)
• Orange: Hazards

Markers have information appropriate to its type. In addition, users submit Reviews to supplement Markers. After downloading the Guidebook, you can read this information by double tapping on a Marker and selecting Details for this Location. We encourage you to read more about ActiveCaptain on their website.

Settings

• ActiveCaptain Web Site : A link to the ActiveCaptain website.
• Show ActiveCaptain Markers : Enable this in order to display ActiveCaptain markers.
• Email : Fill in the email address registered with your ActiveCaptain account.
• Password : Fill in the password registered with your ActiveCaptain account.
• Account Status : Indicates the current status of your ActiveCaptain account.
• Connect : Press this button to login to ActiveCaptain and synchronize your offline copy of the Cruising Guide. If you have not yet downloaded the guide, it is first downloaded.
• Status : The current status of updating the Cruising Guide.
• Erase : Press this button to discard all ActiveCaptain data.
• Diagnostics Markers (Debug) : This is a list of test markers.

Instructions

Downloading the Guidebook

• Ensure your device is connected to the internet.
• Select the Settings tab.
• Select ActiveCaptain.
• Select the first item to take you to the ActiveCaptain website.
• Create an ActiveCaptain account (if you do not already have one).
• Return to SEAiq.
• Enter your ActiveCaptain email address and password.
• Press the Start button.
• Under status it should proceed through a sequence of steps: logging in, downloading markers, downloading reviews, etc. When finished, the status will be Synchronized. The first download of the Guidebook is about 30 Megabytes; depending on your internet connection, it can take awhile.

Since the Guidebook is being changed all the time, you should occasionally update your copy. Just revisit the settings and press the Start button. Just the changes since the last time you updated will be downloaded.

Displaying Markers

• You do not need to be connected to the internet.
• Go to the ActiveCaptain settings.
• Make sure Show ActiveCaptain Markers is set to On.
• Press the Navigate tab.
• Pan/zoom into the location you are interested in.
• When at sufficient scale (at most 1:1,000,000), the Markers will appear.

Reading Markers and Reviews

To view a Markers, there are two methods. The first method is often more convenient; the second approach can be useful if markers are too closely spaced together to easily select a single one. In either case, you do not need to be connected to the internet.

Single Tap

• Single tap on the pointed base of a Marker.
• A box will appear identifying the selected Marker.
• Double tap the Marker.
• The Marker information will be displayed.

Double Tap

• Double tap on the pointed base of a Marker.
• A popup window will appear.
• Select Details for this Location.
• A list of all ActiveCaptain Markers near where you tapped, as well as other items such as chart features, AIS targets, etc will be listed.
• Select the Marker(s) you are interested in.
• The Marker information will be displayed.

Troubleshooting

• I tried to access a marker but got the message "Login to ActiveCaptain to view content". ActiveCaptain requires that your email and password are validated prior to viewing the detailed information (you can still see the Markers without validating your information). This is done as part of downloading the Guidebook. If you change your email or password, you must then revalidate them with ActiveCaptain. Just connect to the internet and press the Start button.
• I don't see any markers? Have you downloaded the Guidebook? Do you have the Show ActiveCaptain Markers setting set to On? Are you zoomed into at least 1:1,000,000 scale? Finally, it is possible there are no markers yet where you are looking. Perhaps you should add one?
• Please let us know if you have any other questions about using ActiveCaptain with SEAiq.