Documentation

Before you start

Canalwise is made for recreational boaters on the inland waterways of Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg. It runs on Android tablets and on iPad, and is designed for a tablet at the helm.

The first time you open the app it shows the safety notice Before you start. Read it and tap I understand. It comes back whenever its wording changes, and its full text stays in Settings › Information › Safety notice.

The home screen

The home screen has one large tile for each part of the app:

Chart

The map with your boat, locks, bridges, notices and signs.

Route planner

Your saved routes and new ones.

Weather

The forecast and official warnings where you are.

My boats

Your boats, their dimensions and alarm thresholds. The tile shows the active boat.

Logbook

Trips and logbook entries for the active boat.

Waterway signs

The CEVNI signs with their meaning, offline.

Settings

Display, boat connections, AIS, account and information.

With the season pass a tile for the instrument dashboard appears as well.

First steps

1. Download your region packs. Settings › Display › Charts and waterway data. For each country there are three packs: Charts (Inland ENC), Locks, bridges, notices and Signs and clearances. Tap Download while you have a good connection; after that they work offline. Notices to skippers then keep themselves up to date: whenever the tablet has internet, the app fetches new notices every hour on its own, with nothing to tap. Offline it shows the last ones it got, with their time. Until you download a pack the chart shows a small demo area near Ghent.
2. Add your boat. Home › My boats › Add boat. Enter at least the length, beam, draught and air draught: the route check and the shallow-water alarm use them. See My boats.
3. Connect your boat (optional). Without a connection the tablet's own GPS is used. To see your boat's speed through water, depth, heading and AIS, connect a gateway or Signal K server: see Connecting your boat.
4. Open the chart. Home › Chart.

The chart

The chart shows the official Inland ENC charts over an OpenStreetMap base map, with your boat, locks, bridges, notices to skippers and waterway signs.

Top bar

• Back arrow: back to the home screen. (The Android back button does nothing on the chart, so you don't leave it by accident.)
• VHF chip: the channel your radio is on, when the radio sends it. Tap it for the channel history of this session.
• Chart · Instruments · Course: switches between the three helm views. Instruments and Course come with the season pass.
• Chart layers: choose what is drawn (see Layers).
• Route overview / Zoom back in: shows the whole active route (or the whole pack) and back.
• Day · Dusk · Night: the palette. Night uses only reds, so you keep your night vision.

Live cards

In the top-right corner the chart shows Position, Speed (knots and km/h), Heading/Course and Depth. A card appears once a source has sent that value, and each card names its source.

Tap the Course card to cycle the follow mode: North up, Course up and Free. Moving the map yourself switches following off.

Speed limit

Under your speed the chart shows the limit where you are and where it comes from. First choice is the official limit of the fairway section you are on (“EuRIS”), read for your boat: many limits depend on draught or beam, so set them under My boats. Until you do, the chart shows the lowest limit that could apply (“EuRIS, boat size not set”). Where the section gives no figure for you, the limit comes from the chart, a sign you passed (“sign 300 m back”) or OpenStreetMap (“not official”). When you go faster than the limit the speed turns red and a message tells you so. Where no limit is known it says so.

Fairway section info

Tap a fairway on the chart, or the i next to the speed limit, to open its section: the waterway and section name, its CEMT class, the largest vessel allowed (length, beam, draught), the speed limit for your boat and the limit as the authority published it, the authority, and the current notices on that section. Sections come with the waterway data from EuRIS, so they work offline.

Layers

The layers button opens Chart layers. You can switch on or off: base map (OpenStreetMap, online), town and city names, locks and bridges, notices to skippers, waterway signs, water levels (online), AIS targets, your reports, reports from other boats, your own track and official weather warnings.

The official chart, your boat and alarms always stay on. Hiding AIS targets does not switch off the close-approach alarm.

Tap for details

Lock or bridge

Name and type, VHF channel, whether it is open now and until when, phone number (tap to call), chambers, clearance, today's operating hours, and the source and date of the data. Where something is not published the card says “not published” rather than guessing.
Live status (online): what the lock, or each of its chambers, is doing now (ready, boats entering, locking upstream, blocked…) and whether a bridge is open, with the time it changed. EuRIS publishes this for Dutch locks and bridges (and a few in France, Austria and Czechia), not yet for Belgium.
Flemish locks and bridges have a Request in Flanders Boating button: lock and bridge requests in Flanders go through De Vlaamse Waterweg's app, which the button opens.

Notice to skippers

The fairway, what it applies to, who issued it and its number.

Sign

Its CEVNI meaning, and the limit for speed signs.

Water-level gauge

Water level, least depth, clearance and discharge, with the time of the measurement. Readings older than 3 hours are marked.

AIS vessel

Distance, closest approach (CPA), speed, course, status, destination, type and size, dangerous cargo (blue cones), MMSI, ENI and call sign.

Next lock or bridge

The card in the bottom-left corner shows the next lock or bridge ahead (within 15 km, in the direction you are heading): its distance, your arrival time, whether it is open or closed then, its VHF channel and a call button.

Offline

Downloaded charts, lock and bridge data and signs work without internet, as does everything from your own boat. The base map, water levels, online AIS and other boats' reports need a connection. When newer data is on the server the chart says New chart data for …; tap Update and it downloads right there, with a ring counting up to 100 %, while you keep using the chart. If a download fails, your charts stay as they were and you can tap Retry.

Planning a route

Home › Route planner lists the routes you planned for the active boat, with their length, number of locks and the result of the boat check.

1. Tap New route.
2. Fill in From and To, and Via if you like. Search for a lock, bridge, harbour or berth, or use My position.
3. Tap Calculate route. Planning needs a connection; planned routes work offline.

Routes come from the EuRIS route calculator. In Wallonia, where EuRIS has few data, the route follows OpenStreetMap and the app warns you of that.

The route page

The page shows the distance, the number of locks and your arrival time (at your boat's cruising speed, with time for each lock). Choose Depart now or a departure time. Four tabs:

Warnings

The boat check: bridges lower than your air draught, depths less than your draught, locks narrower than your beam, locks and bridges that will be closed when you get there (with the time they open again), and official weather warnings along the route. A route on Flemish waterways reminds you that boats without both VHF and AIS must use the Flanders Boating app there (since 1 July 2026), with a button to open it; tick VHF and AIS in My boats if your boat has both.

Notices

Notices to skippers on the route.

Locks & bridges

Each one with your arrival time and its clearance.

Weather

Weather along the route at the time you get there (season pass).

The check result shows as Boat fits, Check clearances, Boat does not fit or Boat dimensions missing. Add your boat's air draught, draught and beam in My boats for a full check.

Show on chart makes it the active route: drawn in magenta, with tabs on the left of the chart. Offline downloads everything the route needs (charts, lock and bridge data, signs, warnings) so it works without a connection.

Following the route

Underway on the active route, the chart follows it:

• The next lock or bridge card shows the next one along the route, with the distance along the water and your arrival time (locks before it included).
• The route strip shows the distance to go, the locks still ahead and your arrival at the speed you are making. Under it, the river side on around your boat, as at the top of the Course screen: bridges with their clearance, locks, berths, and other boats on the route. Tap a lock or bridge for its card.
• Other boats come from your own AIS receiver and, with the season pass, from the Canalwise AIS network. Each shows its speed. A boat behind you going your way and faster shows faster, passes you in 4 min, in orange with speed lines; one coming towards you shows meet in 6 min.
• If you leave the route for more than 30 seconds (over 250 m from it), a banner says so, with Recalculate from here: a new route from where you are to the same destination, through the via points still ahead. It needs a connection; offline the route stays as it was.
• At the destination, a banner offers End route.

Weather

Home › Weather shows the forecast where you are (to about 10 km): now, the next hours, a 48-hour chart of temperature, wind, gusts and rain, and the next two days. It needs a GPS fix from the boat or the tablet. Offline, it shows the last forecast with its age.

Official warnings from the national weather services (through MeteoAlarm) show as cards with their level (yellow, orange, red), the period and the text as issued. When you are inside a warning area the chart shows a banner; tap it for the warning, or X to hide it. A new warning, or the same one raised to a higher level, shows again, and the weather sheet keeps listing every warning.

AIS

With an AIS receiver connected (through NMEA 0183 or Signal K), vessels appear on the chart with a 6-minute course line and their hull to scale. Tap one for its card. Inland AIS details are shown too: ENI, inland size and dangerous cargo.

Close-approach alarm

Settings › AIS › Close-approach alarm sounds, vibrates and shows a red banner when a moving vessel will come closer than a distance you choose (10 to 500 m, default 25 m) within a time you choose (1 to 12 minutes, default 2). It works on every screen.

A vessel is greyed after 3 minutes without news and removed after 10.

My boats

Home › My boats. Choose the active boat with the round button; trips, routes and the logbook belong to it. For each boat:

Name and type

Motorboat, sailing boat, barge or péniche, narrowboat or other.

Dimensions

Length, beam, draught and air draught, in metres. Used by the route check and the shallow-water alarm.

Radio and registration

MMSI, call sign, ATIS code (Fill in 9 + MMSI), whether the boat has a VHF radio and an AIS transponder (the route check uses them for Flanders Boating), and ENI.

Engines

None, one or two.

Planning

Cruising speed, average time per lock, cruising day, fuel tank, fuel use and reserve.

Alarms

Your own thresholds for the boat alarms.

Deleting a boat also deletes its logbook and trips.

Boat alarms

Boat alarms are free and work on every screen:

• Coolant above 100 °C
• Oil pressure below 1 bar while the engine runs
• Battery below 11.8 V
• Fuel below 10 %
• Water under the keel below 0.5 m (depth minus draught)

These are the defaults; change them per boat. An alarm shows a red banner and beeps every 3 seconds until you tap OK. A value that is no longer live never raises an alarm. Engine, tank and battery values come through Signal K.

Your boat's own alarms. When your boat has a Signal K server, the alarms and warnings its systems raise (a bilge pump, an engine fault, a battery monitor, an alarm plugin) show in the same red banner with the boat's own message, marked boat (Signal K). Alarms and emergencies beep, as does any alarm the boat asks to be heard; warnings show without a sound. OK silences one on the tablet only (nothing is sent back to the boat); it comes back if its state changes, and goes away when the boat clears it.

Anchor watch

For a night at anchor or on a mooring buoy. Tap the anchor button above Report on the chart, choose the swinging circle (10 to 200 m, 30 m to start with) and tap Drop anchor here: the anchor point goes where the boat is now. The chart shows the circle and a line from the anchor to the boat, and the button shows your distance from the anchor against the circle.

The alarm sounds, like the boat alarms, when the boat stays outside the circle for 10 seconds, or when the position has been lost for a minute. A poor GPS fix counts in your favour: the boat is only outside when even its accuracy circle is. The watch stays on when Canalwise is closed and opened again. Keep Canalwise open, the tablet charging and the sound on; Stop anchor watch ends it. It is free.

Logbook and trips

Home › Logbook, kept per boat. A trip starts by itself when the boat moves faster than about 1 knot for a minute, and ends after 10 minutes still; you can also tap Start trip now and End trip.

Each trip shows its departure and arrival, distance, duration, time moving, average and top speed, the locks and bridges you passed, and the track on a map. Everything is recorded on the tablet; nothing is uploaded.

Show on chart on a trip's page draws it on the big chart, coloured by speed (blue slow, green, orange, red fast), with its start and end. A panel under the chart replays it: play at ×10, ×60 or ×300, or drag the slider; a marker moves along the track and the panel shows the time, your speed, the distance so far and the last lock or bridge passed. X closes the trip.

Add entry records crew aboard, fuel added, pump-out, routine checks, faults and repairs, incidents and notes. Changes keep an edit history.

Logbook export (PDF, CSV) and trip replay are coming later.

Reporting on the waterway

The Report button on the chart reports floating debris, a hazard, a shallow spot, a lock waiting time, a lock or bridge out of order, or something else, at the boat or at the map centre, with an optional note.

Reports stay on your tablet. Sharing them with other boats is open to test boats for now; shared notes are checked by 3D Print Engineering first. Reports from other boats are marked “not official”, and you can vote Still there or Gone.

Waterway signs

Home › Waterway signs lists the CEVNI signs by family (A to E and others) with their meaning, and the route icons used in the app. Search by name or code. Works offline.

Connecting your boat

Settings › Boat connections opens Gateways and devices.

GPS

Choose Internal (the tablet's GPS) or External (from your boat). On Android you can pair a Bluetooth GPS such as a Garmin GLO; on iPad a GPS paired in the iPad's settings becomes the internal GPS.

With External and more than one GPS on the boat, pick the one to use under External GPS, or leave it on Automatic. The list shows each GPS and whether it is sending a position, connected without a fix, not connected or switched off; GPSs that are not sending now are greyed out. If the one you picked goes quiet, the next source fills in until it is back.

A GPS on a gateway shows its fix on the gateway's line: for example “3D fix, 9 satellites, HDOP 0.9”, or No GPS fix when it is connected but has no position yet. A receiver that was off for a long time, or is indoors, can take several minutes to find its first fix: give it a clear view of the sky.

Satellites

Settings › Boat connections › Satellites shows the sky as your GPS receiver sees it: a dome over the earth with every satellite in view at its height and direction (north at the back), and a line from the receiver to each. Satellites used for the fix are filled; green, amber and red show a strong, medium or weak signal. Below the dome: the fix, how many satellites are used, the precision and a table with each satellite's number, name, elevation, azimuth and signal strength (dB-Hz).

The precision is the dilution of precision (DOP), the standard measure of how well the satellites are spread over the sky. Lower is better: below 1 ideal, 1–2 excellent, 2–5 good, 5–10 moderate, 10–20 fair, above 20 poor. HDOP is for the horizontal position, which matters most on the water.

The page opens on the GPS your setting uses first (Internal: the tablet's own GPS) and lets you switch between the tablet and every GPS on a gateway (those not sending now are greyed out); it also says where the boat's position comes from right now. On Android the tablet's GPS shows its satellites too, with Android's estimated accuracy in metres instead of the DOP (Android does not give one). On iPad only a GPS on a gateway shows its satellites.

A gateway that stops sending says “Connected, but nothing received for … s”; a Bluetooth GPS that is switched off is reconnected automatically once it is back.

Gateways

Tap Add gateway and choose:

NMEA 0183

Over TCP (address and port, often 10110) or UDP (the port to listen on), from a Wi-Fi multiplexer or gateway.

Signal K

Tap Find on the network, or enter the address (port 3000 by default). Canalwise asks for read-only access: approve “Canalwise tablet (read-only)” on your Signal K server.

Bluetooth

Android only: a paired Bluetooth GPS or NMEA device.

Each gateway shows its state: connected (with lines per second), connecting, or an error, and it reconnects by itself.

What Canalwise reads

• NMEA 0183: RMC, GGA, GLL, VTG, VHW, HDT, HDG, DPT, DBT, MWV, MTW, MDA and XDR (barometer, air temperature), FSI (VHF channel), and AIS (!AIVDM, !AIVDO).
• Signal K: navigation, depth, wind, air pressure, engine, tanks, batteries, the VHF channel and AIS.
• NMEA 2000: through an Actisense W2K-1 or W2K-2 Wi-Fi gateway. In the gateway's web page set the data server's Tx Format to N2K ASCII (port 60001), route NMEA 2000 to that data server and let it only send; in Canalwise add a gateway of type NMEA 2000 with the gateway's address and port 60001. Position, course, heading, depth, speed, wind, temperatures and pressure, engines, tanks, batteries, AIS and your VHF radio's channel come through, and each device on the bus is listed under its address. Other gateways work when set to NMEA 0183, or through Signal K.

The Devices list names the devices Canalwise hears on your network (GPS, depth sounder, radio…).

Account

Canalwise asks you to sign in the first time, after the safety notice: with Apple, with Google, or with a code sent to your e-mail. The account is free; it keeps your pass and your shared reports, and once you are signed in the app works offline. Settings › Account shows it, signs out or deletes it. Only your e-mail address is stored. You can delete the account at any time.

Settings

Display

Basic or advanced map, region packs, font size, sign size, language (English, Nederlands, Français, Deutsch, or the device's).

Boat connections

GPS, gateways and devices.

AIS

The close-approach alarm.

Account

Sign in, sign out, delete the account.

Information

The safety notice, and credits and licences for every data source.

Your data

• Your position never leaves the tablet unless you choose to share it.
• The forecast sends a rounded position (about 10 km); online AIS sends only the area shown on the chart.
• Trips and the logbook stay on the tablet.
• No advertising, no tracking.

Where the data comes from

Locks, bridges, operating hours, VHF channels, notices to skippers, Inland ENC charts, water levels and route calculation: EuRIS and the national authorities. Phone numbers and VHF in the Netherlands: Rijkswaterstaat. Base map, marinas, and routing in Wallonia: OpenStreetMap. Forecast: Open-Meteo with DWD ICON models. Radar: EUMETNET OPERA and the DWD nowcast. Warnings: MeteoAlarm. Every source and its licence is listed in Settings › Information › Credits and licences.

Questions

A value on the chart is grey.

It has not been updated for more than 10 seconds. Check the gateway's state in Settings › Boat connections.

The chart only shows the area around Ghent.

That is the demo pack. Download the packs for your countries (Settings › Display › Charts and waterway data).

A lock card says “not published”.

The official data has no value for it. Canalwise never fills in VHF channels, phone numbers or hours itself.

Route planning says it needs a connection.

Calculating a route needs the internet; a route you planned works offline, especially after Offline on its page.

The season pass

The season pass adds the instrument dashboard and the live data we source and serve: radar, the longer forecast and weather along your route. It costs €24.99 for a season (sold April to October, valid until 7 November) or €39.99 for 12 months, as one purchase in the App Store or Google Play that does not renew by itself. Skippers who share 3 trips or 5 confirmed reports in a season get 10 % off. It is stored on the tablet and works offline, and it follows your account on up to 3 devices. See Features for the full comparison.

Settings › Season pass shows what you have, the prices in your store, and the button to buy. You pay through the App Store or Google Play; Canalwise never sees your payment details. Restore purchases asks the server again, for example after buying on another tablet. With the pass your account works on up to 3 devices; a free account on one. If you sign in on one device too many, the app offers to use it there instead and signs the least recently used one out.

Instrument dashboard

Open it with Instruments in the chart's top bar, or the Instrument dashboard tile at home. The gauges you can show:

• RPM (× 1000), fuel (%), coolant (°C), oil pressure (bar), battery (V)
• Speed: in knots; tap the dial for km/h, and the app remembers your choice
• Compass (heading, else course over ground) with your position
• Depth (m)
• Apparent wind: speed in knots and its angle off the bow as an arrow around the boat (P = port, S = starboard)
• Barometer (hPa) with the 3-hour tendency under it, for example “↓ −2.1 /3 h”: → steady, ↘ ↗ slowly, ↓ ↑ falling or rising, ⇊ ⇈ quickly. The tendency appears after an hour of readings, and the app keeps the last hours when it is closed.

Choose your gauges with the layout button in the dashboard's top bar. On the Dashboard tab, set each gauge to Off, Small or Big and drag them into order: up to three big gauges share the top row, and the small ones go in one or two rows under them. You can also add water temperature, air temperature and the fresh water tank. Each boat in My boats keeps its own layout. Reset to default brings back the standard layout.

Instruments beside the chart

With the tablet in landscape, the sidebar button in the chart's top bar opens a column of gauges on the right of the chart, which stays live and can still be moved and tapped. Pick its gauges (up to five, top to bottom) on the Chart panel tab of the layout sheet. The app remembers whether the column is open. It is part of the season pass, like the dashboard.

A gauge without a source says “no source”; a value that is no longer live turns grey. A gauge in alarm turns red. When an alarm goes off while you are on another view, the Instruments button flashes red. The Night display (red) button in its top bar switches the dashboard to the red night palette. The VHF chip shows your radio's channel.

Engine, fuel and battery values come through Signal K; the dashboard shows the first engine, tank and battery. A layout you can arrange yourself is coming later.

Course view

Course in the chart's top bar shows the active route as you sail it. The top half is the river side on, from 1.5 km behind you to about 12 km ahead: bridges at their clearance against a dashed line at your air draught, movable bridges with their leaf raised, locks, the published depth against your draught, marinas and berths at the bank, and AIS vessels near the route (tap one for its card). Under it, a small live chart follows the boat along the magenta route, course up while you move (pinch to zoom), next to the list of everything still ahead.

Below it: your speed with the limit, the distance to go and the number of locks ahead, and your arrival time. The list Ahead on the route shows each lock, bridge and marina with its VHF channel, distance, arrival time, whether it is open then and its clearance. A banner tells you when you are off the route.

With the pass, the chart also shows the route strip at the bottom: name, distance, locks and arrival, with a tab to fold it.

Advanced map

The Basic / Advanced switch in the chart's top bar (and in Chart layers) shows the full detail of the chart and the base map. The basic map keeps every safety layer.

Radar and rain forecast

On the chart, switch on Weather radar and rain forecast in Chart layers to see the live radar picture, refreshed every 5 minutes. A late radar picture is taken off rather than shown old.

On the weather screen, the Rain map has a time slider over 2 days of radar, the next 2 hours (nowcast) and the 7-day rain forecast; Now brings you back to the present.

Longer forecast and route weather

The weather screen adds days 3 to 7. On a route page, the Weather tab shows the forecast about every 10 km along the route at the time you get there. The route's offline download then also keeps its forecast.

Online AIS

Vessels from the Canalwise AIS hub, shared by other boats' receivers, appear next to your own receiver's. Only the area shown on the chart is asked for; online vessels can be up to 15 minutes old and never raise the close-approach alarm. While we test this is free and open to test boats (Settings › AIS › Show vessels from the hub); at the public release it becomes part of the pass.

Developer mode

Developer mode is for test boats: accounts that 3D Print Engineering has marked as test boats on the server. Sign in (Settings › Account) with the address you gave us; once your account is marked, the app shows a sixth section in Settings, Developer & testing, at its next sign-in or restart.

Season pass (test)

Until store purchases exist, the Season pass (test) switch shows the paid features. Off, you see the app as a free user does. With it on, every paid button carries a red Paid tag, so you can tell what is in the pass.

NMEA 0183 debug

A test screen that connects to an NMEA 0183 host and port and shows live speed, depth and position with their age and source, the last 12 raw sentences and how many were rejected (bad checksum or format). Useful to check a gateway before adding it.

Send boat data to the dev server

On the NMEA debug screen, Send to dev server (opt-in) sends your boat's decoded values, raw sentences, boat name and account to the Canalwise team every 2 seconds, from every screen, until you switch it off. Enter the API address and the dev token we gave you; Forget token removes it. We use it to see what your boat's network sends when something does not look right.

Test-boat sharing

AIS hub

Settings › AIS: Show vessels from the hub, Share my receiver's AIS with the hub and, separately, Also share my own position.

Reports

When you save a report: Share with test boats.

Device recognition

Settings › Boat connections: Help improve device recognition sends which kinds of devices and sentences your network has (never positions or values), so the app can name more devices.

Simulators

For testing at the desk, two simulators run in Docker on a computer on the same network as the tablet:

Boat simulator

A Signal K server on port 3002 with every gauge, a boat sailing the Canal Charleroi-Bruxelles at Seneffe, and an NMEA 0183 radio and depth sounder on port 10112. Every 4 minutes the values go out of range for a minute, to test the alarms.

AIS simulator

AIS over TCP on port 10111: three inland vessels with ENI data around Seneffe, a yacht in the marina, and the test boat's own transmission.

Add them as gateways (Signal K on 3002, NMEA 0183 TCP on 10112 and 10111) and switch other sources off while testing. The commands are in the repository (backend/tools/boat-sim, backend/tools/ais-sim).

Reporting a problem

Tell us what you did, what you expected and what happened, with the time, the tablet and the gateway. A screenshot helps. If it concerns your boat's data, switch on Send boat data to the dev server for a few minutes while it happens.