The blog
As you might expect, Garmin cleaned up the offer and pricing of Navionics Boating charts at the beginning of the year 2024.
No more large areas (like the Mediterranean) up to 35 € ! Several zones are redefined and subscription prices are aligned uniformly to 50 € for the most part, with two exceptions. Read more …
Nobeltec, Inc., subsidiary of MaxSea International, is a leading developer of PC marine navigation software and a supplier of electronic nautical navigation charts. This company is the official developer of TZ iBoat on Apple Store. After several weeks of beta-testing, version 3.0 has just gone online.
A revolution is taking place in the world of maritime cartography... Never seen before ! » TimeZero announcement.
British backpedaling : UKHO postpones phasing out of paper Admiralty charts to at least 2030 ! Six months after setting the target of 2026 for the complete withdrawal from production of all paper navigation charts (¹), UKHO (United Kingdom Hydrographic Office) said the 2 February than in response to user feedback, It now plans to continue providing a paper card service until 2030 at least (²).
After the NOAA (¹) and SHOM (²), United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has just announced its intention to take steps to phase out the production of the world's nautical paper charts by the end of 2026 to focus more on its digital navigation products and services. Read more …
An event that occurred last summer escaped the vigilance that I try to maintain on the nautical economy. Fortunately my friends from Geogarage have just filled this gap. In the field of private electronic cartography, the actors change hands more and more often according to the economic and financial negotiations. Read more …
With the latest update of the SHOM the 16 September 2021, Geogarage announces the removal of 18 facsimile charts from British charts covering, mainly, the south coast of England and Gibraltar. These areas are now only covered by the British Admiralty portfolio. (UKHO).
Indeed, SHOM recently announced (¹) rationalization of its catalog of nautical charts, onwards September 2021, by the deletion of many foreign charts reproduced under historical reciprocity agreements with some foreign hydrographic services. Read more …
in May 1992, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) had adopted a standard aimed at defining the specifications of electronic charts, the ENC, used by ships, as well as the devices that display them, called ECDIS. This standard was published under the name S-57 – IHO Special Publication N°57. This standard was then the subject of a major update, version 3.1, in November 2000. Ten years were then left to the various operators, manufacturers and publishers, to bring their navigation systems on board ships into compliance. In January 2010, a new standard S-100 IHO Special Publication – Universal Hydrographic Data Model has been published, an important development aimed at adapting to this rapid growth in data available for navigation. Read more …
Over the last few years, I have expressed myself several times on the quality and reliability levels of the electronic charts we use in yachting., more particularly with the navigation applications of our mobile devices (¹).
From the oldest article in 2013, it appears seven years later that nothing has really changed. On the occasion of a search for a landing in Galicia, I discovered that some editors still haven't updated changes that are almost five years old, like the port of La Coruña yet so busy. I can always be told that the examples I will cite on the West Atlantic coast do not affect safety in any way., but that gives reason to wonder about the rest of the coast. It should be remembered that SHOM took nearly a year to update on its raster charts the extension of the port of Minimes in La Rochelle, when the German cartographer NV Verlag had for a long time perfectly represented it on the NV Charts (²). Read more …
With yesterday's delivery of the version 2.0.54, Weather4D add Imray charts (¹) to the Routing & Navigation, recently available in Geogarage. Five layers cover the Atlantic facade (²) , from the North Sea and the Shetlands to the Canaries and the Azores, and one layer covers the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
But the most important are the three layers covering the western, central and eastern Mediterranean, which now provide detailed coverage from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea. An excellent complement to the international SHOM layer. Read more …
I relayed here, in French, an article published in the British magazine Yachting Monthly (¹) the 30 th. The subject deals with the debate between paper charts and electronic navigation, by stating many truths, but also sometimes one or two untruths. The purpose has the merit of presenting contrasting arguments, and to obtain the opinion of recognized UK's professional boaters. Since the confinement imposes time constraints on us, let's take this opportunity to enjoy this instructive reading.… Read more …