Label : cartography

C-Map back to Europe

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Yachtmen my friends, do you know Altor ? Of course not, don't look for, me either until this morning. Altor is an investor from northern Europe who presents himself as follows :

"Altor is a family of Private Equity Funds focused on investing in and developing and medium sized companies with’a Nordic origin. We want to create Sustainable values and make a real difference as a a valuable partner For Owners and managers in buiding to world class companies. We work with a Nordic team with extensive international experience in fields such as private equity, consulting, investment banking and various industrial sectors."

But why talk about it ? Read more …

Does Navionics charting become dangerous [Update] ?

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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 …

Reading : 'Electronic charting' HS48 Voiles et Voiliers

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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 …

Raster Charts… the comeback [Update]

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[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.

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Electronic charts : scales and overscale [Update]

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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.

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Navionics Boating : Italian at the top of business [Update]

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How make the new with the old ? Navionics knows it ! After publishing geographic areas including a navigation application, here is now an application, but without charting. Italian are too much !

Navionics Boating Complements, since January 2014, The App Collection Navy (iPhone) and Marine HD (iPad ). Also available as standard version for iPhone and HD for iPad, Navionics Boating has the same version number 6.0 than others. Navionics point, on the dedicated website page of its website, that Navionics "Boating" does not replace Navionics "Marine" which will continue to be updated. However, it is permissible to wonder for how long, because this new application provides a very bad surprise. Read more …

Charting, the game of 7 errors

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A recent Thread on the Hisse Et Oh forum, I salute by the way, I challenged the accuracy of the chart data provided on the electronic charts. The subject concerns the observation that, in some location, existing information on the Navionics Marine HD application, or on some chartplotters, are missing on Navionics charts available on the website x-traverse.com used with iNavX (and MacENC). Quote :

"So the question is : Is there a difference between the 46XG map and the Europe map or is the difference due to the software that makes the cards tick?. ”

Damned ! It seemed useful to make comparisons closing electronic charts from various sources. As far as I know particularly well geographic location used in example, since it is the approach to the port of Concarneau, near the beacon tower Le Cochon, passage I borrowed hundreds of times over the years I was working with Glenans Nautical Centre. Read more …

SEAiq professional navigation on iPad

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SEAiqA few days before going on a long trip from Toulon to Noumea, my friend Christophe Mahé introduced me to this application which had gone completely unnoticed by me. I sincerely thank him ! As it is never too late to do well, a few discussions with the developer allowed me to install this application on my iPad with all its options. SEAiq went live on the AppStore in April 2012. Its developer, Mark Hayden, is a Californian computer engineer living a good part of his time with his family or alone around the world aboard his Super Maramu, the happy man.

SEAiq Open (¹) is the only application on iPad / iPhone for using vector charts ENC IHO official standards S-52, S-57 and S-63. With information database included in these charts, and update systems , SEAiq transforms the iPad into a real ECDIS (²) professionnal. Read more …