Settings & Radar Guide

Most stable navigation map — quick recipe

Navigation charts feel smoothest when depth and contour tiles are cached instead of re-fetching on every pan and zoom. Use this combination for the steadiest on-screen picture:

1. On the WX Radar tab, switch the toolbar to USN (sailboat icon) for depth, bathymetry, and aids.
2. Open Map & Display Settings and turn on Lock chart overlays.
3. Pan and zoom to your harbor or approach at the scale you want.
4. When you move to a new area or zoom level, tap Refresh once on the radar map so cached layers match the view.

Full detail: Stable navigation chart (lock + refresh) · Stable weather radar image

Map feels stuck or unresponsive

After panning far away or zooming to an extreme view, tiles may stop updating or the map may feel sluggish. Use the toolbar scope button on the WX Radar tab to reset the view.

1. Open WX Radar.
2. Tap the scope button (left of Refresh) — recenters on GPS or your marina preset, clears the saved pan/zoom, and reloads radar and chart tiles.
3. If you use Lock chart overlays, tap Refresh once after reset when viewing a new harbor scale.

The app also clamps extreme zoom levels so a saved viewport cannot pin the map at a world-scale view that disables useful overlays.

Coverage — where this app is designed to work

Outside those areas the map may show limited or no radar returns, and navigation layers fall back to Global free depth shading and community seamarks — useful for reference, but not for primary navigation. Always use your helm chartplotter (for example Raymarine Axiom charts) for underway decisions.

Settings tab — what lives there

Open More → Settings (gear icon in the icon bar) for app-wide preferences that persist across sessions. Settings requires an active subscription.

Switch map mode on the radar toolbar: Weather (cloud) or USN (sailboat). Tap Refresh to reload tiles, or Reset (scope icon) to recenter and clear a stuck view. Tap the waves control to open the Marine Conditions panel (local wind, seas, tides, moon, forecast); tap again or the dimmed area to dismiss.

Marine Conditions — local current conditions

Marine Conditions is the named modal panel for a quick on-water snapshot. It is available from WX Radar (waves toolbar control) and when creating a Captain’s Log entry.

1. Open WX Radar.
2. Tap the waves control (top of the map toolbar).
3. Read air, sky, wind, seas/swell, moon, NOAA tide station, high/low tides, tide curve, and short forecast.
4. Tap waves again or the dimmed scrim to close the panel.

Training: Marine Conditions on WX Radar

Two map modes — Weather and USN

Intrepid Mariner uses two presets instead of per-layer toggles. Live radar stays on both maps; each mode shows a fixed set of overlays.

USN map (U.S. navigation)

1. On the WX Radar tab, tap USN in the toolbar (sailboat icon).
2. In U.S. waters: static radar underlay plus NOAA depth soundings, bathymetry, and buoys/lights.
3. In the Bahamas, Caribbean, or Cuba: GEBCO + EMODnet depth shading and OpenSeaMap seamarks (toolbar shows USN · Tropics).
4. For smoother pan/zoom, turn on Lock chart overlays in Map & Display Settings, then tap Refresh after zooming to a new area.

Weather map (storms, warnings, animated loop)

1. Tap Weather in the radar toolbar (cloud icon).
2. Radar animates through recent NEXRAD frames (unless you turn animation off in settings), with warnings overlays.

Stable weather radar image

For a single, non-moving radar frame — easier to read a squall line or share a screenshot — turn off animation on the Weather map.

Freeze the radar loop

1. Open Settings → Radar & Map → Map & Display Settings.
2. Under Weather Map, turn off Animate weather radar loop.
3. On the Weather map, only the latest radar frame shows — no cycling through past images. The USN map always uses a static radar underlay.

Stable navigation chart (lock + refresh)

Depth contours and NOAA chart tiles re-fetch when you pan and zoom. That keeps data accurate but can make the map feel busy. Lock chart overlays caches layers so satellite pan/zoom stays smooth until you choose to refresh.

When to lock overlays

• Studying a harbor approach or marina at a fixed zoom
• Comparing radar rain cells against the same depth contour picture
• Reducing tile flicker while dragging the map on satellite view

How to use lock and refresh

1. Turn on Lock chart overlays in Map & Display Settings under USN Map.
2. Switch to USN on the radar toolbar. Pan and zoom as needed — cached depth layers stay put instead of re-loading on every move.
3. After you zoom to a new scale or area, tap Refresh on the radar map to load chart data for that view.
4. Turn lock off if you want layers to update automatically on every pan/zoom (more network use, less manual refresh).

Chart regions — U.S., tropics, and global

The USN map picks the region automatically from your map center. The toolbar badge shows Tropics when tropical layers are active.

Quick reference — where to change what

Common scenarios

Pre-departure squall check (marina)

1. Map emphasis → Weather.
2. Animate radar loop → On to see storm motion (~30 minutes of NEXRAD history).
3. Center on your default radar region (e.g. Galveston Bay) or My GPS Location. The default range ring is 32 nautical miles.
4. For chart context, switch to USN — NOAA layers come on and radar animation freezes (by design).

Marketing overview: Inventory & Weather NAV maps.

Inbound channel — radar + depth, minimal motion

1. Map emphasis → Navigation.
2. Animate radar loop → Off for a steady picture.
3. Lock chart overlays → On; tap Refresh after setting zoom.
4. Charts → U.S. NOAA (or Auto in U.S. waters).

Away from the boat — center on phone GPS

1. Settings → Radar map center → My GPS Location.
2. Allow location permission when prompted.
3. Open WX Radar so the map centers on your position.

About tab

Open the About tab for version info, publisher details, and links to this documentation hub.

Version 1.0 — see the release notes for what’s included.