Best software for Admiralty Raster charts of the Med and where to buy

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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Following on from the Yeoman thread I have read the Cunliffe article
http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/how-to-use-vector-charts-safely-33747
about vector and raster charts with interest.
He recommends having a PC running Admiralty Raster charts ARCS. I have an onboard PC with GPS so could do this easily
I am currently based in the Med cruising around Greece and the Adriatic. So what is the best software and who sells the charts? Is this a costly endeavour?
Thanks
TudorSailor
 
I'm a bit confused by that Cunliffe article. As I understand it, ARCS is a commercial service for ECDIS systems; that is, it is the means by which the Admiralty supplies raster charts to pro systems on big boats (things that look like this). The point being, ARCS is a service (and an expensive one), not that every Admiralty raster is an ARCS chart.

TC talks about using 'ARCS' charts on his laptop using software supplied by Meridian. I also use Meridian, albeit with Imray charts, and my guess is he is talking about using the Admiralty leisure chart raster folios sold by Meridian, and not really about an ARCS service. This would seem to be supported by one of the screenshots in the article which shows he is using Seatrak (https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/ins.../12/LRMERIDIAN_ARC_-SCREEN_ON_Miniplotter.jpg). Seatrak is one of two leisure product plotters offered by Meridian (and very good it is too).

So assuming he's using leisure folios like the rest of us, I don't know where he's getting his claimed worldwide coverage, because neither Meridian nor anyone else seems to have leisure-priced worldwide Admiralty coverage, and not of your cruising ground in the med. Perhaps he has somehow had an ARCS set loaded into Seatrak, but that would I think at least be a custom job from Meridian.

I'm happy to be corrected in any of the above as digital Admiralty isn't something I use. However, if you're looking for an off the shelf raster set for the Adriatic I don't think you are going to get an Admiralty one very easily. Imray might be your most cost effective option as supplied by Meridian Chartware, and including the Seatrak plotter as used by Cunliffe. I guess you will want ID60 (central med) there are also eastern and western chart pack options. http://www.meridian-chartware.co.uk/product/id60-central-mediterranean_2016/# £120 all in.
 
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The Meridian website Leisure section offers a Meridian chart pack which comes with two plotters for Windows which covers the Western Mediterranean, or an Imray pack which covers all of the Mediterranean.
The commercial section offers much greater coverage.
On the demonstration page it offers a SeaTrak ARCS option.
Haven't tried them yet.
 
bitbaltic said:
I also use Meridian, albeit with Imray charts, and my guess is he is talking about using the Admiralty leisure chart raster folios sold by Meridian,.
Click to expand...

I have been searching, and found Meridian and its demo.

Can I ask how you find Meridian with its Imray charts? Do you still buy the paper charts as well? Do you have a plotter with vector charts on as well - as TC suggests?

Thanks

TudorSailor
 
tudorsailor said:
I have been searching, and found Meridian and its demo.

Can I ask how you find Meridian with its Imray charts? Do you still buy the paper charts as well? Do you have a plotter with vector charts on as well - as TC suggests?

Thanks

TudorSailor
Click to expand...

I've had Meridian Imray since about ?2013. Of the two plotters they ship I use Seatrak, which is the more fully-featured of the two. Seatrak is pretty stable and easy to use- it is a little old fashioned in its user interface, which is no bad thing (drop down menus sensibly organised, rather than tabs, that sort of thing). Seatrak can display boat position and also AIS- the ais I have found can be a little slow to update compared to some other software. It will give you a database of tide data too which is useful, and it's routing tool whilst being rather more of an approximation than some others, gives a good quick ball-park idea of a passage.

I do still buy and update paper charts, which tend to be used more for getting an overview during a crew briefing nowadays than being the direct method of navigation, but I always have the appropriate paper chart on the table as we sail, tucked under the clear cover of the Yeoman. Sometimes it's just easier to draw out a predicted EP on the paper chart than muck around with the computer to get an idea of where you will be by lunchtime.

I installed a cockpit chart plotter a year ago and this runs Navionics vector. However, because I have a fixed PC and had to buy Navionics for the plotter anyway, it was no big deal to install PC Plotter (http://www.pcplotter.com/) so I can also have the navionics vector on the PC screen. The idea being, if there's something I think is not clear on the vector charts in the cockpit, I can go below and look at the issue on-screen on vector and on raster. If the issue is still not clear I can compare both right away with the paper chart. You can run vector, raster and paper all at once, side by side of you want.

In practice, we use the vector a lot underway because we're in the cockpit, but the effectiveness of the Seatrak planning tool (as well as the clarity of the charts- annotations in Navionics, however you are visualising it, I always find dificult to follow) means we tend to plan on raster, having first made an appraisal of the big scale with paper (and a glass of wine perhaps). Having a PC with a much bigger screen than a chartplotter also takes some of the vagaries out of vector presentation.

Here is the Yeoman, paper charts and PC working together at the chart table (I have replaced the screen with a newer one now but you get the gist of it).

img_0557.jpg
 
Dear BitBaltic

Thanks for the full explanation. I have a fixed PC screen that is a bit smaller than yours that currently shows OpenCPN. I also have a 10 inch Samsung Android Tablet stuck to the wall relaying the display of the Raymarine in the cockpit (by wireless). I always sail with the Imray charts on the saloon table.

I think that I will get the Eastern Med pack from Meridian for next season. Of course I now wonder if I might upgrade the PC screen that is 15 years old!

Thanks again
TudorSailor
 
Having used Memory-Map's Admiralty raster charts for the UK, perhaps my expectations of Meridian were too high.

Their EC5 pack for Norway and Denmark is very disappointing to say the least;

1. The coverage is nothing like the expectations generated by their illustration;
db_file_img_761_140xauto.jpg


2. The most northerly chart that is in any practicable for planning purposes on the west coast of Norway is NO307 Stavanger Floro which comes in at 350,000:1;

3. The most northerly chart at 50:000:1 (the next scale in) is the Bergen Fedje chart N023 which only extends about 26NM north of Bergen;

4. The SeaTrak software is shaky - zooming can jump you from Norway to the Southern Ocean;

5. Before purchasing I did click on their link to check the list of charts but it didn't work ( http://www.meridian-chartware.co.uk/resources/chartlists/EC5_Norway_Denmark_JUL_2014.pdf - HTTP 404 error).

I do not like publicly criticising products that I've purchased, but I really regret buying this and would not recommend it if you intend sailing north of the Bergen region.
 
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I have investigated further.

The Admiralty Raster charts cost £913 for Greece but "only" £1100 for the whole med (from Chartco.com). These are true Admiralty charts

Meridian say that their charts are in "geotiff format which are produced using data supplied by the UK Hydrographic Office or Imray which ensures they look just like the Admiralty or Imray charts. The chart packs for Greece contain Imray charts" and costs £110.

TudorSailor
 
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