Comparison

Blue Map vs Seaside Buoy

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

Head to head
About

Blue Map

Access global environmental data, including air and water quality, corporate emissions, and ecological information. Participate in environmental protection by reporting pollution, sharing data, and tracking your low-carbon actions. Visualize environmental conditions with interactive maps and receive AI-driven insights and health alerts.

Highlights
  • Real-time environmental quality data
  • Corporate emissions and performance tracking
  • Public pollution reporting and action
  • Interactive environmental maps
  • AI-powered data insights
  • Personalized health and environmental alerts
Features
Read full description

Blue Map: Your Mobile Portal for Environmental Transparency, Oversight, and Participation We aggregate corporate environmental data, emissions, air/water quality, and ecological info to build a platform where everyone can participate in protecting our planet. 【Data at Your Fingertips】 • Environmental Quality: Real-time air quality in 380 cities & water quality from 1,900+ stations. • Corporate Emissions: Track real-time discharges of 9,000+ air/water polluters. • Corporate Performance: Monitor 6.6M+ enterprises with 1.7M+ violation records. • Carbon Data: Access corporate and regional emissions data for low-carbon action. 【Public Participation】 • Micro-Reporting: Submit pollution leads and track progress, driving thousands of industrial firms to respond and reduce emissions. • One-Key Sharing: Instantly share data on social media, @ authorities to drive action. • Fingertip Environmentalism: Report issues, observe waste sorting, join eco-surveys, log low-carbon acts, and check product footprints with "Carbon-EZ-Check." 【Visual & Interactive Maps】 • 48-Hr Minute-Level Maps: Hourly forecasts for air quality, wind, rain, and typhoons. • Multi-Dimensional Maps: View air/water quality, emissions, corporate records, species distribution, and global solar data in layered visuals. 【AI & Health Features】 • AI Insights: Get plain-English explanations of complex environmental data. • Health Care: Receive alerts for masks, ventilation, air quality, pollen, and outdoor exercise, with personalized risk assessments. Blue Map makes the environment visible and turns your actions into a force for change. 【Honors】 The Blue Map App is developed by the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), a Beijing-based non-profit. Since 2006, IPE has built open environmental data platforms to drive corporate green transformation and improve governance. Awards include: • 2012: Goldman Environmental Prize; 3rd China Soft Science Award. • 2014: Selected for Beijing's first "Green Environmental Protection Theme App." • 2016: Public Participation & Innovation Award (IFCE). • 2017: Founding Member & Vice Chair, Green Consumption and Supply Chain Alliance. • 2018: Vice Chair, China Green Supply Chain Alliance. • 2020: Founding Member, Green Finance Committee (MIIT). • Mar 2023: National award for COVID-19 community guideline research. • Jul 2023: Outstanding Partner, "Whole Value Chain Model for Plastic Pollution Governance" (All-China Environment Federation). • Mar 2024: Council Member, All-China Environment Federation (5-year term). • Jul 2024: Partner, "Swift Action" Tech Initiative (Chaoyang District). 【Contact】 • Website: https://www.ipe.org.cn • Weibo: http://weibo.com/u/5042247906 • Tel: 010-67189470 ext. 8001 【Thanks】 To everyone tracking pollution, monitoring haze, and sharing forecasts—thank you!

About

Seaside Buoy

Access live scientific data from ocean buoys globally. View water temperature, swell height, and more from public scientific organizations. Features include automatic closest buoy selection, map browsing, favorites, and distance/bearing calculations.

Highlights
  • Live buoy data worldwide
  • Water temperature and swell height
  • Automatic closest buoy selection
  • Map and list browsing
  • Favorite buoys
  • Distance and bearing to buoy
Features
Read full description

Live scientific readings from ocean buoys around the world. Data is provided by the National Data Buoy Center of NOAA and other public scientific organizations. Most buoys report water temperature and swell height, but some have more information available than others. Automatically select the closest buoy, choose one from the map, or choose from the list. Build a list of favorites for quick access to key buoys. With your device's location function turned on, bearing and distance to the buoy is calculated and displayed. This app is lightweight, easy-to-use, and requires virtually no data usage. Currently, buoys are included from the following locations: US Pacific: Washington to California US Atlantic: Main to Florida Alaska Hawaii US Virgin Islands Puerto Rico US/Canada Great Lakes Caribbean Gulf of Mexico United Kingdom Ireland Spain Portugal Italy Australia Chile

Screenshots

Blue Map4 screens
Seaside Buoy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Blue Map at none against Seaside Buoy's 4. Blue Map also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Seaside Buoy's advantage is ratings volume (892 vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15). On price, update cadence 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

Both are free to download. Seaside Buoy sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Blue Map asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Blue Map holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seaside Buoy has 892 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Blue Map's written reviews are positive against 56% of Seaside Buoy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Blue Map ships an update every 2 weeks, Seaside Buoy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Blue Map versus Seaside Buoy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlue MapSeaside Buoy
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.6 (892 ratings)
Positive reviews64.5% of reviews — better55.9% of reviews
Number of ratings2892 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS1511.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size127 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer北京市朝阳区公众环境研究中心ENC Data

Customer experience

Blue Map

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews76 reviews
Positive64.5%
Neutral13.2%
Negative22.4%

Seaside Buoy

All ratings892 ratings
Positive91.5%
Neutral4.3%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive55.9%
Neutral11.8%
Negative32.4%

Bugs and requests

Blue Map

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Seaside Buoy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Graph view doesn't render properly
  • Crashes every time tried using it
  • Stopped loading buoy data suddenly

Requested features

2 requests
  • Add swell info
  • Add Celsius temperature display

In-app purchases

None

Blue Map

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Seaside Buoy

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Remove Ads$2.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Large Tip$4.99

Questions

Is Blue Map free?
Blue Map is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Seaside Buoy free?
Seaside Buoy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Blue Map or Seaside Buoy?
Blue Map is rated higher. Blue Map averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Seaside Buoy averages 4.6 from 892 ratings.
Do Blue Map or Seaside Buoy have ads?
Seaside Buoy shows ads; Blue Map does not.
Which is updated more often, Blue Map or Seaside Buoy?
Blue Map ships an update every 2 weeks, and Seaside Buoy every 3 weeks. Most recently, Blue Map was updated on October 22, 2026 and Seaside Buoy on October 15, 2026.

Other comparisons