Imray to stop publishing paper charts

[servus]

You may like this: map and 3d representation of one of their fortresses, made by the Republic of Venice, circa 1600AD. The blue spheres below are Murano glass bowls which were filled with burning pitch or black powder and thrown against the enemy during the battles, a few centuries before that Molotov guy
View attachment 185778

I love thes old drawings and sketches.
Are those pics from a museum in the Venice area?

Thanks!

 

[servus]

Magnetic tapes (remember them?) were routinely erased using strong magnetic fields (not so strong in these days of rare earth magnets), and the magnetic domains were reckoned to decay in 5-10 years storage unless actively refreshed. I had a filing cabinet drawer of old tapes that were almost certainly unreadable, but which a) we had no equipment that could read them and b) I kept them for potential archival interest.

One place I worked held the tape archive of a well-known distributor of junk mail; we used to joke about walking past their racks with a strong magnet!

Spinning rust can only retain data long term if kept spinning and routinely refreshed. Of course we don't use that medium so much these days, but even non-volatile RAM is subject to slow decay as a result of random quantum events. Basically, all electronic storage depends on a continuing power supply for long term readability. The only exceptions I can think of are the purpose built discs sent out on the Voyager spacecraft.

Paper stored in dry, dark conditions can last for thousands of years with good legibility. Papyrus documents from 4000 years ago are still legible. Even sunlight faded documents can still be read - the ink has a different chemical signature to the paper, so infrared or UV illumination can usually make them readable. If that doesn't work, other more complex techniques will. For an extreme case, look at the recent feat of reading scrolls from Herculaneum that were converted to charcoal!

Different subject, sorry ...
I looked at your website.
10 minutes for an eye splice on three strand rope will become my yardstick

 

[westward]

BUT …. And it is a big BUT ….. the few people who still use paper charts are generally still using the ones they bought 5, 10, 20 years ago. How much have you spent on new paper charts in the past 12 months?

Imray made clear previously they wanted to maintain a paper chart service. The fact that they have, I assume very reluctantly, made this U-turn is presumably because the sales of paper charts are plummeting even faster than anticipated, and there is simply not enough income to cover the costs.

If the paper chart lovers all committed to paying a subscription of say £500 Pa then perhaps paper might continue.
Otherwise the only “utter madness” would be risking the rest of an important business by bleeding cash on paper charts that presumably too few are actually buying.

To get back to original discussion, I did buy two paper charts this year. I did this because, from experience, I have a fear of planning a course on my electronic maps which runs over a rock or reef I missed on my electronic chart by not being zoomed in enough. If you are planning a 1000 mile course, it takes a lot of panning to check every mile of it at a high enough magnification that important obstacles are not invisible. On paper maps, which are made by pragmatic people with years of experience, even big maps show the dangerous obstacles, even if they would be too small to see at that scale.
Some of the replies show that some of the people who make and use electronic charts are aware of this problem and the replies were interesting and useful. Not all the companies who create electronic charts are so careful or practical however which is why I still mourn the death of paper charts.
Another example of things getting in some ways worse and not better in the move to everything digital?

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I've just ordered £300 worth and will probably order more in the new year. I love having the correct chart on my desk for quick reference. :-(

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Different subject, sorry ...
I looked at your website.
10 minutes for an eye splice on three strand rope will become my yardstick

Thanks! I did learn to do it in my teens, and do it almost without thinking. But I'm no longer offering a service, and have deleted it from my signature.

 

[servus]

Thanks! I did learn to do it in my teens, and do it almost without thinking. But I'm no longer offering a service, and have deleted it from my signature.

What a pitty. I hoped I can send all my outstanding work to you ... wink , wink

 

[AntarcticPilot]

What a pitty. I hoped I can send all my outstanding work to you ... wink , wink

If you want academic documents editing, I do that!

 

[servus]

If you want academic documents editing, I do that!

Dear sailor friend,
The times when I had to write or edit academic documents is so long ago, that it seems to be out of another life.
But I do appreciate your offer. I will look into your site ...
These days I try to find simple solutions and feel nature.
Good sailing, fair winds and good health to you.
G.

 

[Petertheking1982]

I still have photographs from my childhood, my school years, university time aso. Obviously they were not left on the table on the verandah...
My intention was not to argue anything technical.
I observe patterns and wonder about repeating ones.

I have very few photos from my teen years as it involved the hassle of buying film and developing, normally 1/2 a reel of blury photos. When I started to go digital suddenly I have loads, stored on back up drive, laptop and cloud, all easily searchable and archived with keywords. There is a reason very few continue with film. I still print and frame my favorites, but this can now be done at home rather than paying a printers.

 

[servus]

I have very few photos from my teen years as it involved the hassle of buying film and developing, normally 1/2 a reel of blury photos. When I started to go digital suddenly I have loads, stored on back up drive, laptop and cloud, all easily searchable and archived with keywords. There is a reason very few continue with film. I still print and frame my favorites, but this can now be done at home rather than paying a printers.

Everything has become easier, cheaper etc. If you took photographs on conventional film and had them developped you had to pay for it and one ore ten persons saw the images that you had photographed and there it ended. The cloud is public or at least accessible for the owners of the system.
I guess it is a question of personal taste and preferences.
If you take photographs of sporting events or you are one of the paparazzi the 50 % blur rate is not bad. If you take landscapes and /or architecture ... autofocus is a blessing.
We all like something for certain reasons and never tell a skipper how to flake his halyards.

Cheers, G.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

“ and never tell a skipper how to flake how to flake his halyards.”

Why not?

 

[servus]

“ and never tell a skipper how to flake how to flake his halyards.”

Why not?

Did you pick this one up in one of my answers?

 

[Sandy]

We all like something for certain reasons and never tell a skipper how to flake his halyards.

Did you pick this one up in one of my answers?

I'd be interested to know how you flake your halyards.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Did you pick this one up in one of my answers?

I understand now,

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I'd be interested to know how you flake your halyards.

Probably the same way I weigh my jib sheets

 

[Sandy]

Probably the same way I weigh my jib sheets

Sorry, you've lost me there.

You weight you jib sheets? I've always bought mine by the metre not the kilogram.

 

[servus]

I understand now,

Sorry, I was doing too many things simultaneously.

 

[Sandy]

I popped in to my Chart Agent on Thursday (28/11/2024). They were quite shocked at the announcement from Imray and had no prior warning!

Looks like the current state of play is that Imray will stop 'producing', whatever that means, charts at the end of 2025.

I can see me having to review all the charts on the boat and do a big order after I get back from my summer expedition.

They did say they can supply charts from other nations, but did comment that these might 'dry up' one day!

A grim state of affairs for this old timer. Might even need to look one of these Visit My Harbour tablets! That might be useful on deliveries where you need to prise the iPad out the skipper frozen hands when they are sleeping.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Sorry I have just looked at the thread but I remember that some chart agents used to print out Admiralty Charts from digital copies, won't the same facility be operated with Imray? Surely they will still produce digital charts and if a chart agent has the printer then it should be easy enough to print out a chart.

 

[capnsensible]

Sorry I have just looked at the thread but I remember that some chart agents used to print out Admiralty Charts from digital copies, won't the same facility be operated with Imray? Surely they will still produce digital charts and if a chart agent has the printer then it should be easy enough to print out a chart.

Certainly how it works at the Admiralty Chart Agent in Gib. We were regular customers and they advertised in our local pilot book.