Category: Charts

The surprising press release just came in. I didn’t even know that Navico multifunction displays could handle “raster” style digital charts — the ones that look like paper charts — let alone that NV Charts was working to make its large portfolio of handsome cartography available to the owners of Lowrance HDS, Simrad NSE/NSO/NSS, and B&G Zeus MFDs…

When I wrote about NV Charts after the 2011 Miami Show, I appreciated their unique approach to recreational charts. For one thing, they make their own (though based on official sources), and for another they won’t sell digital versions without the paper version (or vice versa, your choice!). But now that I’ve had some hand’s on time with the actual products, I’m even more appreciative. These are beautifully made charts no matter which way you look at them…

As a guy who may actually cruise the Intercoastal Waterway this fall (as opposed to last year, when I only talked about it!), I’m delighted that there’s so much competition to collect and share relevant information about it. A particularly notable development is the way CruisersNet.net has teamed with Survice Engineering and EarthNC to overlay the former’s “Argus” volunteer-collected and tide-corrected depth data onto the latter’s slick online charting engine, along with lots of other valuable CruiserNet info. The screenshot above shows hundreds of recent ICW soundings less than 12 feet, and also a professionally researched “Problem Area” note, and of course you can drill down to much greater detail…

I’ve been using Navionics “Freshest Data” for almost a year now, and while it takes some getting used to and I have experienced a few glitches, my access to up-to-date charts has become nothing...

Did you ever see the first-in-20-years Bob Dylan interview with Ed Bradley where Dylan expresses astonishment at lyrics he once wrote (like It’s Alright, Ma), and said he couldn’t do again? A memorable TV moment with a weird and reluctant diety, I thought. My work is absolutely not comparable to Dylan’s, but I do sometimes run across a piece written long ago that surprises me in a good way. That happened today with a 2004 PMY column called “Monkey Business” whose intriguing subtitle is “Charts separate men from apes, but the path from paper to digital passes through the jungle.” I thought I’d republish it with the images that are no longer online, plus links, corrections, and more images. Hope you enjoy…