[TomFrearson]

Hi,

I'm currently developing a website which hopefully a lot of you guys will like, I'm just wanting to get some general feedback and if anyone has things they are looking for including, see if I can accommodate? P.s. it's free with no adverts.

The basic function is too allow for simply searching and comparison of marinas while also allowing a user to plan and save their voyage.

Marina comparison will be for parameters such as COSTS (main one in my eyes that is not available anywhere I can't find?!), facilities (showers/wifi/etc), marina info (berth numbers), etc.

The marina search (map based and free-text search) will then allow for a user to plan a route and save the journey, simply clicking an area to view all marinas in that area and choosing the preferred by comparing parameters which are important to them. The website will calculate the suggested region in which you should berth based on your boats capacity and your desired daily hours sailing, but overridable, of course.

The site will also have the ability to comment/rate marinas and areas, have land based information (nearby restaurants, etc) sea based info ("careful in low tide access from south", e.g.), contact details of marinas readily available, news,weather and safety (of course) and also blogs to record you journey (public and private) for comments advice from others.

There are a few other things but that's the jist. I feel being able to compare cost (or if they have free anchor points) would be invaluable, and the mapping of a route will be a useful too (more for recording journeys and allowing to log with photos and comments than for serious navigation).

Any thoughts guys? Much appreciated in advance!

Tom

 

[TomFrearson]

Thanks Multihullgirl. I've seen Active Captain and in Europe it's rather useless really. It also doesn't have prices - would you consider that a big bonus or not really?

Thanks again for your insight!

T

 

[svzephyr44]

I have used Active Captain for a number of years. It depends on "crowd sourcing." That is to say, almost all of the data is provided by the users. The reason that Europe is sketchy is that they have not developed the kind of user base in Europe that they have on the East Coast of the U.S. When users report prices they have prices. Note that the old paper oriented cruising guides (e.g. Dozers in the US) don't have prices either.

I think the operative question is were are you going to get you data? How are you going to keep it up to date? Unless you have a lot of money to do a lot of research on a continuing basis you are also going to be in crowd source mode. What are you going to offer that will draw people to your website rather than Active Captain or Good Anchorage? Let me add marinas.com to your list of competition.

I am not trying to quell your ardor but there is a lot of well established competition out there.

Fair winds and following seas

 

[SVAuspicious]

ActiveCaptain and Good Anchorage.

Lots more: MarinaLife, Bloosea, Waterway Guide. There are number in the EU.

ActiveCaptain is the 800 pound gorilla, even outside of the US because all the capability is there just waiting for crowdsourced data. Jeff and Karen have their eyes set outside the US and I personally wouldn't want to go up against them. They are scary smart, accomplished, and credible.

One of the interesting things about ActiveCaptain is that the Siegels truly believe that their customers are boaters. They have managed to put a business together in which other people provide the financial wherewithal to support their customers.

 

[smackdaddy]

I think the idea behind Active Captain is great. Unfortunately, its founder totally put me off the product due to some very scummy behavior on this forum toward some other members. I had him nuke my AC account after watching it go down. I won't use it again.

So if you can offer something similar and not be a jerk about it, I'll sign up.

 

[TomFrearson]

Hi svzephyr44, thanks for that. Much appreciated! The data is trawled for the most part, with prices directly obtained from marinas. They are encouraged to update regularly to avoid their presence on the site being undervalued. That's the idea anyway. The crowdsourcing is a great way though, you're right!

Cheers SVauspicious, i'll check those out!

SmackDaddy - I'll keep you updated then!

Multihullgirl - Not sure why you're being so rude. I am listening, that's why I'm writing this, but I still appreciate your time in your reply.

 

[SVAuspicious]

The data is trawled for the most part, with prices directly obtained from marinas. They are encouraged to update regularly to avoid their presence on the site being undervalued. That's the idea anyway. The crowdsourcing is a great way though, you're right!

You might want to look at SSECN at cruisersnet.net . While regionally focused they have a model that manages a huge amount of data updated weekly. It isn't the most beautiful site in the world but think about the labor required to collect all that data and if that is what you are prepared to do.

 

[TomMaine]

"There's nothing new under the sun", Tom. But smart people keep coming up with new and sometimes better ideas, to do, anything.

AC is a great 'new' source for me. I still like a printed cruising guide but in fact, I think like most anything paper, cruising guides are disappearing. I get current info on AC that I can't get in print, at no cost to me.


So if you can get needed information to sailors in an area, better than somebody else, who knows?

Good luck, I'll give anything a try.