Skipper

Productivity

marine navigation app

SHOW HN2013

65points
49comments
#392of 1,739 in 2013
Top 23%of 2013 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

7 positive, 10 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 5 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score +0.10.

Execution: 0 for, 2 againstPricing: 1 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Good UI and easy to use

    From 2 comments
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
    • This looks really, really useful to boaters. I'm not a boater at all, but I am a hobbyist pilot that flies maybe once a month on small trips. I frequently use Foreflight…
      monkey_slap on HN
  • Useful for boaters, could disrupt entrenched chart plotter market

    From 2 comments
    • I used work for one of the "big guys" writing embedded mapping software for chart plotters, and this looks very, very nice. Great work! Could be very disruptive to a market…
      ryandrake on HN
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
  • Pricing is low and forgiving

    From 1 comment
    • This looks really, really useful to boaters. I'm not a boater at all, but I am a hobbyist pilot that flies maybe once a month on small trips. I frequently use Foreflight…
      monkey_slap on HN

Objections

  • Relying on iPad GPS for navigation is unsafe

    From 1 comment
    • As someone who sails, seeing "Correct and reliable homing" scares the daylights out of me, particularly when just referencing GPS on the iPad. You have no way to know how…
      frenchman_in_ny on HN
  • Uses low-resolution raster charts rather than vector ENC

    From 2 comments
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
    • Why are you using the raster charts instead of the S57 vector charts? eg. http://www.charts.noaa.gov/ENCs/ENCs.shtml Also, if you're interested in AIS support take a look at…
      bcl on HN
  • Chart switching across scales is confusing in small waterways

    From 2 comments
    • Very cool, but on the website version, it's hard to get the appropriate charts for smaller waterways. I thought I'd check out the local bay. At zoom levels to see anything, it…
      pflats on HN
    • More feedback for you then; Narragansett Bay (Rhode Island) near Wickford has similar issues, made even more obvious by the fact that there is an inset placed just outside the…
      aidenn0 on HN
  • Subscription needed for useful features

    From 1 comment
    • well I am kind of disappointed buying the app. I hoped for using it as a weather overlay for my lake sailing in germany, but without the subscription the app is useless :(
      killerpopiller on HN

Requests

  • Show overlapping charts and let users choose scale

    From 1 comment
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
  • Explain advantage over existing GPS, paper charts and VHF

    From 1 comment
    • Novice skipper here! Looks cool. One suggestion - on your homepage - explain to me very clearly (in better imagery or a few sentences) why this trumps using my existing tools GPS…
      mbesto on HN
  • Support for international charts

    From 1 comment
    • Looks Nice, does it work in europe, or is it US only?
      PanMan on HN
  • Route planning with tides and currents

    From 1 comment
    • Congrats building a nice product in a niche space. There's quite a bit of competition out there (Nobletec[1], MaxSea[2]) in case you haven't researched them, but at significantly…
      frenchman_in_ny on HN

Questions

  • How does trip planning handle tides and current?

    From 1 comment
    • Congrats building a nice product in a niche space. There's quite a bit of competition out there (Nobletec[1], MaxSea[2]) in case you haven't researched them, but at significantly…
      frenchman_in_ny on HN
  • Does it work outside the US?

    From 1 comment
    • Looks Nice, does it work in europe, or is it US only?
      PanMan on HN
  • Why raster charts instead of S57 vector?

    From 1 comment
    • Why are you using the raster charts instead of the S57 vector charts? eg. http://www.charts.noaa.gov/ENCs/ENCs.shtml Also, if you're interested in AIS support take a look at…
      bcl on HN

Alternatives named

  • Navionics

    From 1 comment
    • There is a route editor in the app, but it does not account for tides and current, unless you makes notes for each waypoint. It just lets you plot a point-to-point route, and get…
      andrewljohnson on HN
  • iNavX

    From 2 comments
    • There is a route editor in the app, but it does not account for tides and current, unless you makes notes for each waypoint. It just lets you plot a point-to-point route, and get…
      andrewljohnson on HN
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
  • MX Mariner

    From 1 comment
    • Looks interesting. It's great you have put a lot of effort into making the app easy to use, but here are some suggestions if you really want to be a nautical chart app "done…
      keithwinstein on HN
  • Nobeltec

    From 1 comment
    • Congrats building a nice product in a niche space. There's quite a bit of competition out there (Nobletec[1], MaxSea[2]) in case you haven't researched them, but at significantly…
      frenchman_in_ny on HN
  • MaxSea

    From 1 comment
    • Congrats building a nice product in a niche space. There's quite a bit of competition out there (Nobletec[1], MaxSea[2]) in case you haven't researched them, but at significantly…
      frenchman_in_ny on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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