Comparison

POIViewer vs Coastal Explorer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

POIViewer

This app allows users to import, manage, and display points of interest on maps. It supports various file formats for import and can launch external navigation apps. Users can also edit POI details, organize them into lists, and monitor nearby points.

Highlights
  • Import POIs from various file formats
  • Display POIs as pins or custom icons on maps
  • Organize POIs into editable lists
  • Launch favorite GPS navigation apps
  • Monitor nearby POIs
  • Edit POI titles, comments, and coordinates
  • Export POIs in KML/KMZ format
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

POIViewer is a POI management tool with a lot of features. POIViewer can load, manage and display POIs (Points of Interest) on maps. Places, waypoints, placemarks can be imported and exported, show as pin or configurable icon on maps. This universal app is very fast even with thousands points, making it the perfect complement to existing apps for navigation or route planning. And if you really have a lot (>10000), you can selectively show/hide groups of POI on the map. A few reviews from App stores (thank you): ***** Very good as usual - Working since years with this jewel: keep up the wonderful job. ***** Nearby POIs - Great enhancement! ***** This is the best poi app so far //Bosse. ***** Sehr praktische App und toller Support (Very handy app and great support) ***** At last my poi back POI import from: • Supported POI Files: .csv (Garmin), .ov2 (Tomtom), .zip, .asc., .gpx (only places can be imported), KML/KMZ (only places can be imported), GPI (including icons, images, mp3) • A moveable marker on the map • Your current location • Foursquare places • Wikipedia geotagged articles • The POI search results • Your contacts POIViewer does not provide navigation, but it can launch your favorite GPS app: • Tomtom • Tomtom GO • Waze • Navigon • Apple Maps • Google Maps • Here • Garmin StreetPilot • CoPilot GPS • Sygic • IGO (the new iGO navigation is not well supported, due to a bug in IGO, write them an email) • MappyGPS • Where To? Maps provider (online only): • Apple Maps • Bing Maps • OpenCycleMap POI files can be imported via: • Email, Safari, Airdrop, etc (via iOS "Open In...") • iTunes file sharing • Cloud Providers on iOS 8 (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, ...) • The integrated web browser POI Edition: • POI title and comment can be edited. • POI coordinate can be displayed in various format (decimal, degrees, what3words.com) and edited in decimal. • HTML comment from KML file can be viewed. • POI are organized into lists. You can copy/move POI from one list to another. For each POI, you can view: • Nearby POIs • Google Streetview • Photos (provided by Google Places, Wikimedia Commons, flickr and your photo library) • Foursquare places and tips • Wikipedia articles Monitor: • Monitor nearby POI while you move (for geocaching or other alerts). POI Icons • Pin icon can be modified per list or per POI. • Pin icon can be imported via iTunes (zip files supported). • Pin icon can be pasted into the pin library. • Pin icon can be imported from the internet with the integrated browser. Share • Places and list can exported in KMZ or KML format. • Exported KMZ can be sent by email • Exported KMZ/KML can be sent to PC/Mac via iTunes File Sharing • Exported KMZ/KML can be opened on the iPad/iPhone with apps such as Goodreader, Dropbox app, or Google Earth (KML only). Advanced features: URL scheme • In order to launch POIViewer from an external launcher, use the URL scheme: poiviewer://. • Navigate to coordinates using poiviewer://navigate?lat=[lat]&lon=[lon]&name=[name] • Navigate to what3words address using poiviewer://navigate?3wa=[three.words.address] • Display a POI using POIViewer://show?lat=[lat]&lon=[lon]  • or poiviewer://show?3wa=[three.words.address] • Import a POI into POIViewer using poiviewer://import?lat=[lat]&lon=[lon] &name=[name] Notification sound You can now customize the notification sound by copying a file named alert.wav in the Documents directory. Visit our web site for more details. http://www.fkdev.fr/en/poiviewer Notes: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. The use of this monitoring feature to provide speed camera detection might be forbidden in some country.

About

Coastal Explorer

Plan and log your cruises with detailed nautical charts and weather forecasts. Enhance your experience with a subscription for offline access, real-time navigation, and integration with marine electronics.

Highlights
  • View NOAA and USACE nautical charts
  • Create routes and waypoints
  • Cloud synchronization
  • ActiveCaptain points of interest
  • US Coast Pilot information
  • Marine weather forecasts
  • Tide and current predictions
Features
Read full description

Coastal Explorer™ is a sophisticated, full-featured, easy-to-use cruise planning and logging tool designed specifically for the pleasure boater. And it becomes a complete navigation system with the purchase of a chart subscription. The free Coastal Explorer app provides these great planning features: * View NOAA and USACE nautical charts for the US in vector format * Create routes, waypoints, boundaries, and other navigation objects * Cloud-synchronization of your navigation objects * ActiveCaptain points of interest * US Coast Pilot information * Marine weather forecasts and observations for the US * Tide and current predictions for the US Purchasing a chart subscription turns Coastal Explorer into a complete navigation system that includes: * Downloadable charts, tide and current predictions, Coast Pilot, and ActiveCaptain places for offline use * Interfacing with compatible networked marine electronics devices, including GPS, compass, depth sounder, anemometer, AIS, autopilot, and more * Customizable instrument panels * Route following with cross-track error, distance and time to go, estimated time of arrival, etc * Track and event recording * Integrated blogging Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. See our Terms of Service at https://www.rosepoint.com/legal/terms_of_service.

Screenshots

POIViewer4 screens
Coastal Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: POIViewer at 82% against Coastal Explorer's 11%. POIViewer also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). Coastal Explorer's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 weeks). On ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Coastal Explorer is free to download; POIViewer costs $4.99 up front. Coastal Explorer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. POIViewer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

POIViewer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of POIViewer's written reviews are positive against 11% of Coastal Explorer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

POIViewer ships an update every 4 weeks, Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
POIViewer versus Coastal Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPOIViewerCoastal Explorer
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (9 ratings) — better2.8 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews82.4% of reviews — better11.1% of reviews
Number of ratings916 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#83 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.4 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB54 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperFrenchKiss DevelopmentRose Point Navigation Systems, Inc

Customer experience

POIViewer

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews85 reviews
Positive82.4%
Neutral9.4%
Negative8.2%

Coastal Explorer

All ratings16 ratings
Positive43.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative56.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive11.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative88.9%

In-app purchases

None

POIViewer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Coastal Explorer

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year

Questions

Is POIViewer free?
POIViewer costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Coastal Explorer free?
Coastal Explorer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, POIViewer or Coastal Explorer?
POIViewer is rated higher. POIViewer averages 4.9 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Coastal Explorer averages 2.8 from 16 ratings.
Do POIViewer or Coastal Explorer have ads?
Neither POIViewer nor Coastal Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, POIViewer or Coastal Explorer?
POIViewer ships an update every 4 weeks, and Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. Most recently, POIViewer was updated on November 1, 2026 and Coastal Explorer on October 24, 2026.

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