The Marine Electronics Hub
This week Maptech sold it paper chart and guide book division to Richardsons’ Publications, which was already producing similar products. In fact, a principal there was working at BBA/ChartKit when Maptech purchased it in 1997.
The U.S. Government has stopped distributing electronic updates to the official raster charts for up to 12 months? That doesn’t sound good…
There were 15 entries in the “Aftermarket Electronics, Electrical Equipment, Instrumentation, Navigation Equipment including Software” category of this year’s MAATS Innovation Awards, and not a dud in the bunch! Which is why it’s particularly noteworthy that we seven judges gave the award to…
Sign of the times? Or just an indication that the Captn Jack’s portion of Maptech is going to shut its doors? I really don’t know much new about the Maptech sale since my last entry, but there sure are some good deals available at Jack’s, free shipping too. Like the new…
I was just getting used to the idea that Garmin really would buy Raymarine—lots of industry people seemed to think it would happen—but apparently now it’s off…
This morning the Sunday Telegraph is reporting that Garmin is the mystery bidder known to have approached Raymarine in late February. I’m fairly surprised, but what do I know!
Well, I’ll be darned. Raymarine’s stock jumped today, the company stated that “it has received a preliminary approach which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company,’ and…
Whereas I got the week started on what’s largely a trade subject, let me add an unsolicited suggestion to everyone who makes plotters, multifunction displays, or any other marine electronics with a screen and some sort of accessible memory. If possible, please add a screenshot feature!…
It’s ironic that I wrote about a neat Maptech price/packaging move Friday afternoon, as I now know that simultaneously the employees were learning that the company would be sold, either whole or in parts, and that it would immediately go into a sort of maintenance mode, which included a few layoffs. Naturally the relatively tiny marine electronics industry has been a-buzz…
Man, the AIS traffic was heavy out there in the Gulf of Maine! Actually I was using the very neat AIS Simulation software created by Mats Kågstrøm of Firma Mats Kagstrom. Specifically I was testing how many AIS targets a Raymarine E-Series can handle simultaneously, as I got a report from a user who says his resets randomly when more than 100 ships are within range. Well, I did see
