Paper Charts Now Unnecessary

[zeehag]

i do plan on purchasing more charts--as i am not staying here in mexico forever, i plan on purchasing charts for each area i plan to sail.

there are some out there --one in sea of cortez, who chooses to replace and update his collection via theft from other cruising boats. be careful. apparently not all that many cruisers actually cruising will agree that paper charts have no continuing value.

[Infinitee]

Based on the number of replies and knowledge from this thread alone, CF should create its own platform, using crowdsourcing, to collect info, data, and corrections

(see definition here Crowdsourcing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then sell the data and fund the website for generations I bet the company that buys it would be willing to pay for continuous updates from members as well. Just an entrepreneurial thought..

Peace

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Infinitee

Based on the number of replies and knowledge from this thread alone, CF should create its own platform, using crowdsourcing, to collect info, data, and corrections

(see definition here Crowdsourcing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then sell the data and fund the website for generations I bet the company that buys it would be willing to pay for continuous updates from members as well. Just an entrepreneurial thought..

Peace

That sounds sort of like Active Captain's "Interactive Cruising Guide" https://activecaptain.com

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i do plan on purchasing more charts--as i am not staying here in mexico forever, i plan on purchasing charts for each area i plan to sail.

there are some out there --one in sea of cortez, who chooses to replace and update his collection via theft from other cruising boats. be careful. apparently not all that many cruisers actually cruising will agree that paper charts have no continuing value.

I do realize that paper charts can be expensive...but when you figure in the comparative cost of electronics and the fact you can build up your chart inventory slowly (as well as trading and/or buying used charts) paper is easier on the bank account.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I do realize that paper charts can be expensive...but when you figure in the comparative cost of electronics and the fact you can build up your chart inventory slowly (as well as trading and/or buying used charts) paper is easier on the bank account.

That certainly was the case a few years ago, but it does not apply now. The hardware is often necessary for other things such as email etc. if not, old laptops that are perfectly adequate for mapping software, can picked up for very little cost or are often given away by family or frends when they upgrade.
Many of the maps are free. If not they are frequently low cost. I have the whole of Europe on my iPad it costs something like $70. My wife has downloaded the same maps on her iPad at no cost, with one licence fee.

Electronic maps have become a bargin while no-one was looking.

[zeehag]

i have yet to find free charts f anywhere but contiguous united states. not usvi, not puerto rico--and these charts i found were via google earth a few years ago and many puters ago--that feature wasnt offered in my last few updates of google earth.
maps are easy to find but charts are not , that i can locate....if you have a magic linky to go to for other charts than usa, please let me know.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

That certainly was the case a few years ago, but it does not apply now. The hardware is often necessary for other things such as email etc. if not, old laptops that are perfectly adequate for mapping software, can picked up for very little cost or are often given away by family or frends when they upgrade.
Many of the maps are free. If not they are frequently low cost. I have the whole of Europe on my iPad it costs something like $70. My wife has downloaded the same maps on her iPad at no cost, with one licence fee.

Electronic maps have become a bargin while no-one was looking.

When you say maps are you referring to charts for marine navigation or are you referring to land side street and road maps? If you have a source for marine navigation charts for all of Europe for $70 I would really like to know where.

Thanks
Skip

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by skipmac

When you say maps are you referring to charts for marine navigation or are you referring to land side street and road maps? If you have a source for marine navigation charts for all of Europe for $70 I would really like to know where.

Thanks
Skip

I am referring to propper marine maps, not street maps. They have become drastically cheaper in recent years.

Another example navionics for iPad is $60 for the Caribbean and S. America. (you can install this on two devices for the one fee).

Open CPN which is free program enables many maps to used on a laptop if you prefer this over a tablet. There are also a lot of free propper marine electonic maps.

This is a typical screen shot from my iPad.

The real thing is clearer than this photo shows. You can of course zoom in and out. There are also photos of the anchorage as well as some notes about facilities phone numbers etc. There is even a "community" section where other cruisers have downloaded details of unmarked hazards the holding etc.

All this for about $70 for Europe ( although the UK is on a different map )

No Internet or phone connection is needed to view the maps.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I am referring to propper marine maps, not street maps. They have become drastically cheaper in recent years.

Another example navionics for iPad is $60 for the Caribbean and S. America. (you can install this on two devices for the one fee).

Open CPN which is free program enables many maps to used on a laptop if you prefer this over a tablet. There are also a lot of free propper marine electonic maps.

This is a typical screen shot from my iPad.

The real thing is clearer than this photo shows. You can of course zoom in and out. There are also photos of the anchorage as well as some notes about facilities phone numbers etc. There is even a "community" section where other crusers have downloaded details of unmarked hazards the holding etc.

All this for about $70 for Europe ( although the UK is on a different map )

Hi Nolex,

Know OpenCPN very well. Have it installed on two laptops and have tested it extensively in preparation for my next cruise. Also have an iPad.

As Zeehap said, easy to get free US NOAA marine charts but after looking for years the only "cheap" marine charts I have found for Europe were pirated copies of CM93. I would prefer to use a legal electronic charts but so far all I have found were hundreds and hundreds of dollars (or Euros) to get charts for all of Europe, Med etc, even if you don't count the UK.

So it wasn't clear to me where you recommend getting the cheap electronic charts for Europe. You mention Navionics for Caribbean and Latin America. Are you saying they also have cheap charts for Europe? If so that is the opposite of what I have seen from them in the past.

Thanks
Skip

[noelex 77]

If you have an iPad it is easy Skip. Go the the apple Apps store. Type in marine maps or navionics. Select the region you want, and pay by PayPal etc. You can then download the map or just parts of the map if you wish. Downloaded maps remain on our iPad without the Internet or phone connection.
There are a number of competing systems and it may be worth finding which is best for your region. Navionics is only one (but is very good). They are all a similar price which is a bargin. For the price of a couple of paper charts you can get half a continent in detail.

[zeehag]

i refuse to buy an ipad. i find them ridiculous.

[noelex 77]

I just looked it up Navionics Europe is actually $26. Make sure you get the iPad not the iPhone version ( which is lower resolution, but cheaper)

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

If you have an iPad it is easy Skip. Go the the apple Apps store. Type in marine maps or navionics. Select the region you want, and pay by PayPal etc. You can then download the map or just parts of the map if you wish. Downloaded maps remain on our iPad without the Internet or phone connection.
There are a number of competing systems and it may be worth finding which is best for your region. Navionics is only one (but is very good). They are all a similar price which is a bargin. For the price of a couple of paper charts you can get half a continent in detail.

Thanks Nolex. After your last post I went online to the Navionics web site to explore a little. Then made a call to their customer service department. Seems like there is a huge difference in price buying Navionics charts for your marine GPS unit compared to their charts for the iPad or Android device. Marine GPS charts start at about USD$200 for a limited area and prices go up from there. To get full EU coverage would be thousands of dollars. But they confirmed that you can buy iPad charts for the entire Med for under $100.

So have you looked at the close in detail on these charts? Do they give complete port and harbor data with all the channels, markers, etc that you would get in a detailed harbor chart?

From what I can tell you do give up some functions on these charts. It looks like they don't include GPS positioning, you can't integrate with radar, etc but considering the savings over the regular marine GPS charts I can easily live with that limitation.

[Jbaffoh]

I'm not a fan of the Navionics apps--at least the iPhone versions. But I like iNavx a lot, and I buy the Navionics charts for that. For the iPad iNavx, Navionics charts for the Med and Black Sea cost $70. However the rest of Europe will run much more.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Thanks Nolex. After your last post I went online to the Navionics web site to explore a little. Then made a call to their customer service department. Seems like there is a huge difference in price buying Navionics charts for your marine GPS unit compared to their charts for the iPad or Android device. Marine GPS charts start at about USD$200 for a limited area and prices go up from there. To get full EU coverage would be thousands of dollars. But they confirmed that you can buy iPad charts for the entire Med for under $100.

So have you looked at the close in detail on these charts? Do they give complete port and harbor data with all the channels, markers, etc that you would get in a detailed harbor chart?

From what I can tell you do give up some functions on these charts. It looks like they don't include GPS positioning, you can't integrate with radar, etc but considering the savings over the regular marine GPS charts I can easily live with that limitation.

I have the Navionics app for US and Canada. I dont't have a complaint about the charts--they are just like the Navionics Gold+ charts on my Raymarine.

But I hate the interface. You can't enter waypoints using lat/lon coordinates, and other aspects are limited.

I much prefer the iNavx app. It costs more, but it's well worth it.