AGLCA vs TowRiver

America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association’s app helps you plan stops on your Great Loop adventure by showing you the route itself, and where you can find our sponsors, Harbor Hosts, and “Best of the Loop” points of interest in more than 10 categories as designated by our members. All app users can review the Great Loop route, read FAQs about the Great Loop route and Great Loop-capable boats, and learn more about each segment of the Great Loop. AGLCA members enjoy additional features, such as finding Harbor Hosts near their current location, getting discount offers from our sponsors, and seeing details about each “Best of the Loop” point of interest. AGLCA members can also see a sample itinerary for the Great Loop that shows just one of the thousands of combinations of stops you can make on the Great Loop. You can also download .gpx files for each leg that can be imported into your navigation app for review.

TowRiver is a trip-planning and live-conditions companion for boaters on the Upper Mississippi River, the St. Croix, and the Illinois Waterway — from the Twin Cities down to St. Louis and up the Illinois to Lockport. Everything below is free to use during early access. MAP & NAUTICAL CHARTS • Interactive river map with the USACE Inland ENC nautical charts built in — bundled for the whole river, so they work with no signal. • Marinas, locks & dams, and every movable (opening) bridge on the three rivers. TRIP PLANNER • Pick a start and destination and get distance, the locks and bridges you'll pass, and an estimated running time based on your own cruising speeds. • Routes across the Prescott and Grafton confluences automatically. LIVE LOCK TRAFFIC & TOWS • See who's waiting, in the chamber, and inbound at each lock, in real time. • Underway tows plotted on the map with ETAs, plus each boat's usual route. • A typical-traffic heat map so you know the busy days and hours before you go. BRIDGE CLEARANCE FOR YOUR BOAT • Enter your air draft and movable bridges are color-coded green / yellow / red by whether you'll clear them at the current river level — read live off the nearby gauge. Always confirm against the clearance board or the bridge operator. RIVER CONDITIONS & WEATHER • Live river stage and flood status from NOAA gauges. • National Weather Service forecasts along your route. WHERE AM I • A GPS view that snaps your position to the channel and shows the next lock, bridge, and marina up- and down-river. NOT FOR NAVIGATION TowRiver is a planning aid, not a navigational instrument. Lock, traffic, chart, weather, and position data may be delayed, approximate, or incomplete. Always navigate with official charts, U.S. Coast Guard Notices to Mariners, working onboard equipment, and sound judgment. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Lock & traffic data: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. River & weather: NOAA / National Weather Service. Charts: USACE Inland ENC.