The blog
I had presented in May 2015 the excellent raster charts NV Charts by the German Publisher NV Verlag. In 2016, the previous cutting in 4 areas for France - Channel and Atlantic coasts - has been split into 8 areas for 49,90$ apiece. It should be noted that each year a new edition replaces the previous one, there is no update.
Bounderies in 2015
Updated on 17 May, Navionics Boating presents some modifications, in presentation and functionalities.
First of all only subsist Navionics Boating for iPhone and "Boating HD" » for iPad. The old names have disappeared, happily because confusion was great. Version purchased with built-in charting has the name of the region, for example "Europe HD" for iPad. On the other hand, there is a free version called "Seas and Lakes" which allows to test then buy a chart of the area of choice, and additional options. Read more …
Yachtmen my friends, do you know Altor ? Of course not, don't look for, me either until this morning. Altor est un investisseur du nord de l’Europe qui se présente ainsi :
“Altor est une famille de fonds d’investissement privés focused on investing in and developing and medium sized companies with’a Nordic origin. We want to create valeurs durables and make a real difference en tant que a valuable partner pour les propriétaires et les gestionnaires in buiding to world class companies. Nous travaillons avec a Nordic team with une vaste expérience internationale in fields such as private equity, consulting, investment banking and various industrial sectors."
Mais pourquoi donc en parler ? Read more …
Weather4D Routage & Navigation offers a choice of raster charts from many international hydrographic services . Charts folders are available for application on the French web server Geogarage. Charts are subject to an annual subscription by Publisher directly on Geogarage website after creating an account there. After subscribing to a publisher, the entry in Weather4D 2.0 credentials created in Geogarage activate display of subscribed folder , ready to download. Procedure step-by-step :
Since the start of the navigation season, many boaters have found an increasing number of errors on Navionics charts, following recent updates, all media. All over Europe, Germany, Baltic States, French coasts of the Channel and until Spain, appeared non-existent channels and erroneous soundings, missing soundings, Missing information, Conflicting bathymetric information depending on zoom levels, and so on. Most importantly, these findings are made by long-time regular users of Navionics charting, experienced sailors.
[Corrective update 26 August 2015]
[October Corrigendum Update 2 2015] See end of entry. Read more …
Since end 2012 I found no more of maritime books causing me the overwhelming desire to share, Like the few novels described in this section " Reading ”. Today this feeling comes back to me, in a completely different vein, on reading the excellent Special issue n° 48 of Voiles et Voiliers : " Understand and use electronic charting ”. Read more …
In a previous entry I presented the SHOM raster charts provided by many publishers on iPad. For several weeks the German nautical chart publisher NV Verlag offers two new areas ending coverage of the coasts of France Atlantic and English Channel. These charts are usable both with iNavX on iPad/iPhone, only with GPSNavX and MacENC on Mac. We can therefore, unlike Navionics, use the two available copies of each region on two different media (iPad , iPhone ou Mac).
[Update 26 August 2018]
I have been an ardent supporter of vector maps for several years.. Compact, of low numerical weight, easy to update, they are perfectly suited to use on our mobile devices.
According to the good old adage that only fools don't change their minds, Recent technical developments in hardware and software, added to maritime events that have occurred in recent years, have led me to reflect on the correctness of my opinion. Trained in the old school of safety in Glénans Sailing School, The only bias I must allow myself to express is that of the safety of human life at sea. This may sound a bit "old-fashioned" for some, but I assume. Hang, It's going to be a long time.
With iNavX, with iPhone like iPad, charts update goes through two processes. It is necessary to distinguish individual charts update, and update full charts folders with a new edition. Read more …
A recent email exchange with a Mediterranean user drew my attention to a specific aspect of electronic charting : zoom limitation of a chart. ENC vector charts (¹) are classified in 6 categories depending scale : smallest scales less than 1:1.500.000 for global views to largest scale up to 1:4.000 for harbours and anchorages. (²).
Marine charts international classification
In most cases, ENC S-57 (¹) official charts the most detailed have a scale about 1:4000, thus 1 cm on the chart (screen view) represent 40 meters on the ground. With paper chart, the only way to get more details is… to use a a magnifying glass, that provides, as we know, in no case more accuracy. But it is quite otherwise for electronics charts.
