Which Navigation Program Do You Use?

[Sandero]

It seems strange that today with the precision of GPS used for chartography and surveying, that the charts we use, both paper and digital still contain so many errors. This might be understandable for areas off the beaten track, but for well traveled areas there is no excuse for continued inaccuracies. Mars has been mapped by satellite and we still have inaccurate shore lines etc...

Can't much of this be done from satellite surveys, even reading depth contours and locating nav aids? Why isn't this being done? Or is this level of precision only useful to the gunk holing sailor in exotic places?

jef
sv shiva

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Nauticatarcher

We use a pirated copy of Maxsea and CM93 charts (

ARCHER - MARINE

On a public board you admit to selling pirated components?

[MarkJ]

I am really impressed with the USA issuing the free NOAA electronic charts. They might not be the slickest, most modern digital things with pop-up picces of every harbour, but they mean theres no excuse to not having the basic safety tools at your fingertips.

That we in the rest of the world have to pay a kings ransom for a bit of paper, or sell off our first 3 born for electronic, sux! Safety is more important than the British Admiralty and the Australian Hydrographic office making profit!

At AU$40 per chart paper is a joke. At $215 per region the C-Maps find a way to make sure every short hop takes you over into the next region.

Gov'ts should issue, free, the whole country when you get your ticket, or clear in.

[Pblais]

I am really impressed with the USA issuing the free NOAA electronic charts. They might not be the slickest, most modern digital things with pop-up picces of every harbour

Actually they are the slickest and have pop up harbor details. With software it all becomes as slick as anything out there.

Historically charts were always expensive and in far distant history accurate charts were considered state secrets. They cost a lot to maintain and large format printing is not inexpensive. US charts have been maintained electronically for many many years. It was easier to distribute them electronically for free than to use the owlets that used to sell them. Paper charts still cost about $20 US if you buy them printed on demand. I doubt any country could issue paper charts for less than that price.

Many countries don't do it that way and so the electronic versions have to be created. Other countries see it differently and figure rich yacht owners can easily afford it. They could be right.

[Agility]

Has anyone seen the new Navnet 3D? If the maxsea and Navnet work well together it seems like the best of Computer programs AND dedicated marine quality chartplotters.

FURUNO NavNet 3D

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I am really impressed with the USA issuing the free NOAA electronic charts.

Gov'ts should issue, free, the whole country when you get your ticket, or clear in.

The official electronic chart folio here in NZ is essentially free. One just pays the costs of putting them on CD and distribution through the agents which is around NZD65 for the whole catalogue of them last time I bought them. But at the moment they are only available as raster charts (which I prefer myself).

The catalogue also includes the charts for some of the Pacific Islands and the small scale International charts for the whole of the Pacific Ocean.

The same policy also applies to paper charts here but, of course, the costs of warehousing, maintaining them corrected before sale, etc means they are not close to being give aways like the electronic ones.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by MidLandOne

The official electronic chart folio here in NZ is essentially free.

Are they downloadable off the net?
How does one grab this $65 bargain? I could sell you some possums in exchange for some charts

[MidLandOne]

You can get them in Oz from HSA Systems who have an on line shop at HSA Systems - committed to innovation and excellence . Look for NZ Mariner Chart Pack (AUD66 I see). No doubt other chart agents have them too. Obviously to use them you need an Electronic Charting System that handles Raster Navigational Charts and the NZ Mariner encryption (there is a list on the LINZ site but I don't think it is complete - Euronav is probably the one on there most used by pleasure vessels, I think - I use HSA's Endeavour Navigator).

They are not downloadable off the internet but on the LINZ site http://www.hydro.linz.govt.nz/ if you find your way to the chart catalogue you will find that they provide a high resolution TIF file for each chart. These are not maintained corrected and are supposedly not for navigation but they work just fine in charting programs such as SeaClear and for some years that is what I did. But I have used the electronic chart pack for quite a number of years now.

PS Got lottsa possums already

[MarkJ]

Thanks!!!

I'm not commenting on you guys pinging us the extra dollar!

[MidLandOne]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I'm not commenting on you guys pinging us the extra dollar!

That's my commission .

[allegedly]

I have both a Raymarine C-80, interfaced with radar, auto pilot and tri-data, which uses Navionics chips and an older Raymarine (I think SL 580) that has the C-Map chip. This chart plotter is "stand alone", with it's own gps and no other attachments. Have 2 Garmin hand held. Always the most resent (up-dated) paper charts on board for the area I am in and will be in. Thinking of getting a lap top for additional nav. options, email and Skype.

I'm running CMPECS and Tsunami'99 simultaneously, each with their own chart folio (of course), on an ageing ThinkPad. I originally tried this purely as a diagnostic aid in order to compare displayed screen colours, as those of T99 are partly 'washed-out' on my TFT screen, yet the CMAP's remain bold. Never did figure out why.

But - when running these 2 programs together I quickly discovered how useful it was to be able to instantly switch (Alt-Tab) back and forth between 2 different scale charts: to be able to see the bigger picture as well as the detail, without zooming in or out manually. I've also found it very useful to be able to instantly switch back and forth from course-up to North-up - again, using different scales.

And - as a bonus - when running from 2 different chart folios, it's then possible to spot discrepancies between displayed data, the existence of which I'd otherwise be unaware of.

Colin

[caribnsol]

I have been doing some research, reading the posts here and in other places and I think I will buy the Fugawi software. Anyone know of any show stoppers before I get it ? thanks in advance

Bill

[Pblais]

I have the newest version and it works quite well. If you down load all the ENC charts it works best to define sub sets for faster processing. It has the best looking ENC display and the easiest to configure.

If you need a USB Adapter et me know. There are a lot of them on tyhe internet that don't work. Once tip is don't connect or power on the GPS until after you boot. Windows garbs it and thinks it's a mouse. Makes for a fun time. It's not Fugawi problem - it's a Windows problem.

To do ENC takes more horsepower than raster. ENC is all vector graphics so a fast video card helps. It works fine with either as well as the Navonics Gold chips. I belive the new version actually comes with a chip reader. You can't use any other chip reader to read Navonics. I also use the Pocket PC version that comes with it too. If you get hooked on the Pocket PC version I think PathAway is a better software product. I think the zoom range is too small with the PocketPC version of Fugawi.

[caribnsol]

thank you Paul.
I will keep that all in mind (and it does come with the card reader). I should have it next week sometime and start playing with it then. Though not sure when I will get underway with it, have to wait for another 70 degree day to play hookey from work and go sail.