Memory Map £40 UK Charts- any users?

I've planned many, many passages using this software/charts on my PC and then navigated them using my PDA. After trips, my tracks are automatically copied back to my PC to keep a record as well as to review any details e.g. speed at different points of the route, etc. I also use Maptech charts with Memory Map e.g. to cover areas such as the Med, etc.

I've used Mapsource, CMAP/NT Planner, Seaclear and Chart Navigator but found Memory Map to be much easier and faster to use - with a much more intuitive user interface, in my view. For £40, you cannot go wrong!
 
I've been using MemoryMap on a PC and PDA for many years. Use the OS 25K maps for walking and the Maptech admiralty charts for sailing. Memory Map also allows you to scan and calibrate your own maps if required. I've done this for walking in Spain, Germany and Switzerland, surprisingly accurate.
This £30/£40 pack of charts has to be one of the bargains of the century (until they become free).
An excellent piece of software to my thinking. No tides though.
 
way forward

so if I've got this right there is a cost effective way to come out of the dark ages

Ask Santa for a GPS dongle for the laptop
wait till the new year and buy the AIS compatible memory map £40 chart pack etc.
start saving for the AIS interface and do it sometime

I have a 17" dell vostro laptop ready to be demoted to boat use

Is this it - sound great
 
I bought this earlier in the year as my experience with even pricey plotters was like looking thro a letterbox - eyesight spotting less detail nowadays. Used it for passage planning/armchair sailing so far and the limited functionality suits my limited capability. Still haven't managed to get adjacent charts to appear when track gets to them (anyone got a tip?). I plan to install it on a netbook with solid state HD so suspect more functions might be more than it can cope with. I reckon it's excellent value for £40.
 
atsea - no tides, I have not bought it - I need tides in my slow boat. Great price.

Belfield - bought it because I believed Keith Belfield was the tide expert. A mistake. No sensible interaction between the tide and navigation tools. Also, they decide which tidal diamonds matter - many of the inshore ones they simply leave out! I was conned.

I am a long term user of Offshore Navigator (OSN). It suits me well, good tides, but - no AIS support. Worryingly Maptech seem to have stopped development on this. (They abandoned the "Chart Navigator Pro" project which seemed to be their intended follow-on project.) No indication of any plan to put AIS capability into OSN. I use the ability to exchange routes etc between a handheld (GPS 72) in the cockpit (long wire!) and the computer safe down below. This means I can use the 72 to tell me where to go, and I still have my route if someone spills beer on the computer.


Certain lack of committment to things this side of the atlantic. Promised new charts for next season, so hold off buying until you are ready to go. However, I wouldn't hold my breath - missed deadlines for European products are the norm I'm afraid. Last time I updated the tide data it was into May before they delivered the year's data.

I can't get my oldish OSN installation disks to run on my new Windows 7, 64 bit machine, but other forumites report successful installation on similar configurations, so I anticipate that when I do renew it'll work.

Navionics on the iPhone is a good buy. Great tidal displays but some precision with the fingers required. I keep it up to date and check buoyage etc on it.
 
I can't get my oldish OSN installation disks to run on my new Windows 7, 64 bit machine, but other forumites report successful installation on similar configurations, so I anticipate that when I do renew it'll work.

Go to the Maptech website. IIRC, you may need version 5.08 to work on Windows 7 64 bit, or they have a patch. The links to get there are within my posts here: Reply #20 http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5747.15.html

I only had OSN Lite (that I got with a chart book a few years and for $25 (that's USD) I got a new disk that let it work on my W7 64 bit and got OSN full version. Good deal.
 
Spuddy said:
Still haven't managed to get adjacent charts to appear when track gets to them (anyone got a tip?).
Click to expand...
Remember the 'Lock onto GPS button', from the help file:
With your GPS connected and receiving signals, click the Lock toolbar button . The map is scrolled to place the current position at the center of the window, and as your position changes, the map will scroll to keep it there. If you manually scroll the map, the current position is held in the off-center position where you dragged it.

The position reported by the GPS is shown by the red cross-hair cursor. The center of the cursor flashes each time a new position is received (every few seconds). If the cursor stops flashing and turns grey, the position is not up to date.

If your position moves off the current map, a new map is automatically opened. The map that covers the current position with the scale nearest to the current map is selected.

Hope that helps!
 
I have it and used it for passage planning and interest this year.

Very good, excellent value as others have said.

I bought the GPS dongle from Maplins for about £30 I think, although still haven't got round to installing it.

I haven't used it for navigation whilst at sea yet, but guess I'll give it a go next year as a back up to the GPS and paper charts, for interest.

As I have a nice warm dry wheelhouse the usual weatherproofing concerns of laptop use don't apply as they do in open cockpit craft, although the risk of hard drive failure is always lurking in the background.

Saved me loads of time pasage planning. Just need a 12v printer then I can print out whilst aboard too.
 
Thanks for the tips, jon. That solves one problem. But still stuck when planning a route when stationary at home etc and want to get track to pass to an adjacent chart. Possible to get over this by ending route on current chart then starting again after calling up the adjacent - this seems too clunky by half. Or doing complete route on a large scale chart covering whole area but using coarse navigation approach; then tweaking the waypoints after calling up more detailed charts. Is there a better way ?
 
I do not find it good for waypoint and route creation so use Garmins Map Source for that. I save files as GPS eXchange. If just using Memory Map I would place the individual waypoints on which ever map is best, then make up the route using those waypoints. Having just re read the help file and tried it I did not find it easy, best of luck!
 
Spuddy said:
But still stuck when planning a route when stationary at home etc and want to get track to pass to an adjacent chart. Possible to get over this by ending route on current chart then starting again after calling up the adjacent - this seems too clunky by half. Or doing complete route on a large scale chart covering whole area but using coarse navigation approach; then tweaking the waypoints after calling up more detailed charts. Is there a better way ?
Click to expand...

Those are the only two methods I've found. I normally use the second option. For the first option, having called up the next chart, if you right click on the last waypoint and choose 'add waypoint after' you can just carry on plotting a route. You could also draw a from-to route then use a combination of 'add waypoint' before & after to refine it. I've never really found it a problem.
 
Memory Maps

I have been using the product for years and the only problem I have had is that the various versions dont work together, so my old maps (oh dear what have I said!) with routes and charted points dont work with the new version! I had to upgrade the IPAQ software as well!
I use a handful of old IPAQs (purchased on ebay for around £5 each) I load the charts on to SD cards use super cheap bluetooth GPS's (cheaper than multiplexing) and away it goes. The only recent problem is that my other half brought me a new autohelm last xmas and the output from the Ipaq doesnt work with it!
Dont you just love upgrades, I need to spend a bit of time to figure this one out.

Bottom line is its a good cheap solution that can do most of what is needed.
All the best
Neil
 
Has anyone figured out how to buy the charts via download as opposed to on the CD/DVD?:confused:

Am I the only one to think the website is amongst the most user un-friendly ever??:mad::mad:
 
Yes, not the best website, my advice would be to buy the DVD marine package as the download version takes a long time and which you do chart by chart from the program. Also there is the danger that you could miss charts you need as there is no way as far as I have discovered of downloading them all in one package.
It is far from pefect but is very good value for money. My biggest complaint is that it is very difficult to improve and modify a route by dragging the waypoint to a new position. So I use Garmins Mapsource for editing and save as GPS file exchange and open in Memory Map.
One point about the maps is that as soon as updated versions are available from UKHO they are uploaded onto the MM site and are available for download. However there is no list to say which have been updated so that we can replace the existing older ones.Presumably they would like us to keep buying the DVD package!
 
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