i-Boating WMTS (Web Map Tile Service - Marine Charts & Lake Maps)

Table of Contents

Introduction

The i-Boating WMTS is  a dynamic web map tile service that runs on your localhost and provides coverage for marine charts and lake depth maps. Its the most customizable marine WMTS and compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, ArcGIS online, Grassgis, Leaflet, Openlayers and any software compatible with the OGC WMTS standard.

 

Salient Features

  1. Offline support: Designed for private internal use to run on your localhost even when offline
  2. Change depth unit to feet, meter or fathom
  3. Tile size can be customized to  256, 512 or 1024
  4. Both http and https support
  5. For https, add your own SSL certificate or use our bundled self-signed certificate
  6. Compatible with most GIS software and web - applications including QGIS, ArcGIS, ArcGIS online, GrassGIS and platforms like Here Maps, Google Maps, javascript libraries like Leaflet, Openlayers etc
  7. Choose between Light and dark mode
  8. Custom depth offset
  9. Custom shading 
  10. Option to use an offline basemap
  11. Capable of serving maps till zoom 20

 

How it works

Its a 2 step process:

  1. Download charts: The i-Boating WMTS requires grid cells covering your area of interest to be downloaded. 
  2. Run WMTS: When you run the i-Boating WMTS, it give you a URL (aka the WMTS endpoint). You can copy paste the URL when adding a WMTS layer  in your GIS application/web app.

 

HTTPS support and troubleshooting

Several web based applications (e.g. ArcGIS online) require that the WMTS end point support https. You can use one of the following two options when using The i-Boating WMTS https endpoint.

  1. Use a bundled SSL certificate: The i-Boating WMTS includes a self signed SSL certificate that it can use to serve content over https. 
    1. When using with ArcGIS online, it is important that your visit the WMTS URL in your browser and explicitly trust your localhost. This is because the bundled SSL certificate is self-signed and needs to be explicitly trusted before it can be used.
    2. When using https endpoint with QGIS, you would get a similar warning. Check the box that says “SSL Server Exception” and you will be able to connect with the https endpoint.
    3. You may have to revisit the WMTS URL in your browser after a few days and re-trust your localhost. When the browser adds a localhost exception, its valid for a few days and needs to be re-trusted.
  2. Use your own SSL certificate: If you are familiar with SSL certificates, you can create your own SSL certificate for localhost and use it with the i-Boating WMTS. You can use mkcert. Its a cross platform tool for setting up locally trusted SSL certificates. https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert 

 

TroubleShooting / FAQ

Q. Why  am  I getting a low resolution map and seeing very few details/broken lines?

  1. It means you haven’t downloaded the grid cells covering the area. Use the download tab to download grid cells covering the area and start WMTS. That should resolve the issue.

 

Q. I am using ArcGIS online and I do not see the marine charts overlay.

  1. ArcGIS online requires https endpoint. On the WMTS tab, click on settings and enable https. The application includes a self-signed SSL certificate bundled with the application. If you select that option, you will get an https URL that you can copy paste in your ArcGIS online app.

 

  • Note that with the bundled SSL certificate option, it is important that you visit the WMTS URL in the same browser as ArcGIS online and trust your localhost.

 

Q. It was working fine yesterday. I refreshed  the ArcGIS online page today and its no longer working. Why?

  1. Is the i-Boating WMTS running? Check the WMTS tab. If its running, you should see the endpoint URL.  If you close the i-Boating WMTS application, it terminates the WMTS endpoint.

 

Q. My ArcGis online map was working correctly with marine charts overlay for last few days. And it stopped working today.  What happened?

  1. If you are using a bundled SSL certificate, please revisit the WMTS url in the browser where you are using ArcGIS online and re-trust the local host. Some browsers revoke the SSL exception after a few days. But once you revisit the WMTS URL in your browser and re-trust it, it should work.

 

Q. What is WMTS?

  1. WMTS is an acronym for Web Map Tile Service. It's a protocol that was developed and published by the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2010. The i-Boating WMTS application is an implementation off this standard for marine and lake maps.

Download App for Supported Platforms

The i-Boating WMTS is supported for Windows and MacOS. Go to download the i-Boating WMTS application Page to get the software

Purchase WMTS App

Go to purchase the i-Boating WMTS App Page to buy it for your platform.

Usage Restrictions

The i-Boating WMTS license is for private internal use.

It should not be used to create  public facing websites or apps (native or web). 

The WMTS service should not be used to re-distribute map content, including from a cache or by a proxy etc instead of directly accessing the service.

Please contact us if this does not meet your requirements, or you need any clarifications.

 

Tutorial Video

 

We have created a set of video tutorial on i-Boating WMTS