Article by Pat Schrawder
WHAT’S THE LATEST NEWS IN MARINE DIGITAL CHARTING
By now, most of you have installed some kind of GPS/plotter device on your boat. The latest trend has been for manufacturers to include detailed charting data built into your instrument. In many cases, this chart is just fine. However, for those who want more detail, the option is made available to purchase additional charts to be plugged into your unit. The most common format is SD cards or micro SD cards.
Garmin offers their own brand of charting called “BlueCharts” and have an optional G2 Vision chart that shows satellite imagery. However, Garmin BlueCharts are only compatible with Garmin products.
There are two other leaders in the cartography field for marine application at this point in time and they are Navionics and C-Map (owned by Jeppesen). Let’s take a look at these two more closely as they are the two popular ones that are compatible with many of the most prevalent GPS/plotters in use today and they are highly competitive with each other. I am not favoring one over the other since both are good. It seems to be a matter of personal choice or, in some cases, which card format your particular plotter requires. Let’s take a look (in alphabetical order) at C-Map.
Okay, now what does Navionics have to offer? This season, they are promoting three marine versions: Silver, Gold and Platinum charts. The Silver charts are built in to some models of equipment and are precursory versions that are not updated and contain little detail.
On the other hand, you have the new Gold Charts that seamlessly cover a large area such as our entire East Coast and islands and yet are able to zoom down to a resolution of 1 meter (3ft). They show tides & currents, port plans, user-selectable safety depth contour, marine services with phone numbers, navigation aids with XPlain and marsh areas. Gold charts cover multi-country areas called XL9 (XG in the Americas). Prices run around $199.
Newly introduced is their “Freshest Data” subscription that allows you to download additional charts and/or updates for latest changes in your current chart. It is free for one year following the purchase of the Navionics chart but, to take advantage of this free offer, you must have made the purchase within the previous two months. This is available on their 2D and 3D charts. Their 3D charts also offer satellite photography overlay, port photos and something called SonarCharts™, a new high definition bathymetry map layer with sea bed detail not available on existing cartography, created by integrating hydrographic office charts with data from Navionics proprietary surveys and sonar logs provided by Navionics Community users.
According to Jeppesen, C-MAP 4D is the only maritime chartplotting solution that lets you completely customize your digital navigation charts. You choose the content (MAX or 4D), and you choose when to purchase additional Value-Added-Data to enhance your boating or sailing experience. In addition to the same things contained in most charts, they offer 3D chart view, Satellite imagery with 2D and 3D overlay, digital raster cartography with both 2D and 3D and guardian alarm and easy routing. It also offers so-called Value Added Data that constantly updates charts. For other charts, you can join their Club Jeppesen that entitles you to one free data update per year.
When activated, Guardian Alarm performs an automatic forward-scanning check for obstacles. Use the feature as an added backup to alert you of a potentially harmful object. Easy Routing automatically creates routes in the following way; Enter start and end points along with specific boat parameters and automatically receive waypoints of the shortest route. It highlights potential hazards and displays varying levels of alerts for each segment of the route then allows you to manually adjust the route.
The best way to select a chart (or perhaps select a unit because of the charting it uses) is to go online to their web sites for more detail or, better yet, go to a store that sells the products and look at the actual chart on a working unit. They are very competitive and offer wonderful charts to fit every boating enthusiast.
Pat and her husband, Larry are owners of L&L Marine Electronics on Golf Course Road in West Ocean City, MD.
