Chart Providers
So where do you get all this neat chart data so you can pop it up on your new cartographic display? There are several possibilities:

Charts on a Chip
Many different chart formats are available on memory cards, which are fast, reasonably waterproof, and not subject to vibration problems when your boat is pounding toward Bimini. Offshore charts are provided by Navionics and C-MAP, while inland data can be supplied by Garmin, C-MAP, and Lowrance. There are many formats.   Each cartridge holds between 6 and 80 charts, and new mini format cartridges (C-card from C-MAP, micro G-Chart from Garmin, and NavChart from Navionics) may hold several hundred charts. Prices range from $100 to $400 per cartridge.

Since the data is in vector format, it does not look like conventional paper charts, although CMAPNT charts look darned close when viewed on a color display. In color or monochrome, vector charts tend to be simpler and look less like familiar paper charts than the other electronic chart format, raster charts. However, they have some substantial advantages over raster charts:

1. Very fast screen update rates combined with greatly reduced storage and processor requirements due to the vector format.
2. The ability to change from very large to small scales while still being able to read text and identify icons and other features (fonts are constant size).
3. Charts are seamlessly integrated so that you don't run to the edge of a chart and have to pull in entirely new map data.
4. Chart information is stored in layers so that data may be selectively shown or removed from the image, and chart attributes can be queried for incremental information.

At least two potential problems exist:

1. There are at least ten chart formats from several vendors which make it next to impossible for a retailer to have the right chart for your particular device in stock. Chart data is frequently out of date.
2. The chart images don't look like conventional NOAA paper charts.

Downloadable Vector Charts from a CD-ROM
This is the newest category, and already Garmin, Magellan, and Lowrance have GPS receivers which can download map data from a CD. You can select the geographic area, and in many cases, the type of information of greatest interest to you (points of interest, marine aids to navigation, road networks, hiking trails) until it fills up the memory in the GPS. Some allow you to download any portion of the CD, while others are on a "pay per view" basis where you have to pay to unlock each geographic areas. We see great potential in this storage method.

Raster Charts on CD-ROM
Raster charts are electronic files made by scanning a paper chart. NOAA has teamed up with a private distributor (Maptech®) to bring their library of 1,000 charts to the public. The charts are stored on CD-ROMs with high memory storage capacity and tolerance for wet environments. Each CD-ROM stores up to 50 NOAA charts and inset charts of harbor areas. The chart images, when viewed on a color LCD or CRT display, look just like the paper source map. In addition, other national Hydrographic Offices are beginning to use the same raster format, so that the software is compatible with foreign chart providers.

The current software available for displaying raster charts is dramatically better than that available even two years ago. It is easy to use, utilizing most of the common software interfaces that make newer software operate consistently. Chart re-draw speeds are greatly improved, so that zooming and panning are not chores. And, obviously, computers are dramatically better each year, with more speed, better displays, and almost universal inclusion of CD-ROMs in all portable models.

Software features are rocketing ahead, as well. Among the more impressive are the new mapping engines, which make raster charts practically seamless, and make it easier than ever to select the right chart for a given scale. Another great feature is the integration of tide and current information with the chart presentations, so you can see where the current will be ebbing or flooding on the next leg of your voyage.

MapTech Offshore Navigator

RayTech Sail Racer CD

Garmin MapSource US Waterways

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C-MAP NT/USA