What the dashboard tells you straight away
The large, colour-coded values let you understand the trip with a quick glance. There is no instrument menu to open.
The dashboard adapts to the available space. On a compact iPhone, the most important values remain especially large and easy to read; an unfolded iPhone Duo, iPad, or Mac can also show additional available information. This may include the current water temperature at a gauge.
HDG – where your device points
In normal use, HDG follows the compass in your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. With Signal K, it can instead show the boat’s actual bow heading from the onboard instruments.
COG – where you are actually going
Course over ground. Wind and current can make it differ from the direction of the bow.
SOG – how fast you are making progress
Speed over ground. It shows your actual movement across the map. Tap SOG in the dashboard to switch between knots and km/h or mph.
Ready to use with iPhone, iPad, or Mac
On iPhone and iPad, Rivers & Seas uses the device compass and position. On Mac, the iPhone can supply position, speed, course, and available direction information. The large display becomes a clear map aboard without another GPS receiver.
At home, the same Mac is especially comfortable for preparing Tracks and the cruise.
Signal K makes the dashboard even better
When Rivers & Seas is connected to Signal K on the boat network, the dashboard also uses your existing instruments. Depending on the equipment aboard, depth, water temperature, and other values appear as well. HDG can then show the boat’s actual bow heading from its heading or compass sensor.
When the autopilot is active, PLT TRUE shows its target course. Available values appear automatically, so there is no dashboard to rebuild before each trip.
The turn indicator: see the boat begin to swing
On houseboats and raft-style boats with the helm far forward, there is often no flagstaff or other clear reference point for judging how the boat is turning. The turn indicator lets you see immediately whether the boat has begun to swing – especially useful when berthing, in confined waters, and during small course corrections.
The small marker below the dashboard shows how your boat is actually turning. Red means port and green means starboard. The farther it moves from the centre, the faster the boat is turning. The marker disappears when the boat is travelling almost straight, keeping the dashboard calm.
The turn indicator uses the sensors in your Apple device. With Signal K, Rivers & Seas can instead use turn-rate data from the boat network when available, or derive it from the boat’s heading sensor.
The wide line shows rudder position
If your boat provides rudder position through Signal K, an additional wide red or green line appears. It shows the side and approximate amount of rudder applied.
Rudder position and turn rate do not have to match: the rudder may already be over before the boat noticeably responds. Wind, current, and speed through the water also affect the actual turn. That is exactly why seeing both together is useful.
If a value is missing
The dashboard chooses the most useful values that fit clearly in the available space. This is why fewer values remain visible on a compact iPhone than on an unfolded iPhone Duo, iPad, or Mac. A value that is not shown on the dashboard may still be available; there may simply be no room to present it clearly in the current layout.
Three dashes mean that no sufficiently current and reliable value is available. Rivers & Seas would rather show nothing than an old reading.
If a basic value is missing, first check that Rivers & Seas may use Location and the compass. If you use Signal K, also check that the instruments aboard are switched on and Rivers & Seas is still connected to the boat network. The value reappears automatically as soon as current data arrives.