eddystone
Well-Known Member
Sorry if this is a brainless question but I have never used electronic charts, apart from a Navionics app on my Android phone - what is the usual process for keeping electronics charts on a chartplotter up to date?
Updating electronic charts
- Thread starter eddystone
- Start date
pvb
Well-Known Member
Just take or post the chart cartridge to a dealer, they update it for a fee.
dewent
Well-Known Member
Most these days have an application that you can download and then run the updates from your PC. However the updates are expensive. I can't say I update mine every year and I am sure that most do not.
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
Can you expand on this ie which ones are free?
prv
Well-Known Member
I don't think any where you take it to a dealer are free. Did you misread pvb's post?
The new Navionics product (can't remember the name; you basically buy the card as an empty blank and download your chosen area of charting onto it via a computer) includes as many updates as you like for one year at no cost; after that you have to pay.
Pete
Tranona
Well-Known Member
The electronic versions of Imray charts are available on an annual subscription basis and all updates are free. easily downloaded from the website.
xeitosaphil
Well-Known Member
I updated mine 2 years ago and was lucky enough to have a free update included in the purchase package. Cost last year for update to a C max card was quoted at £50.
Needless to say mine is now out of date again and annoyingly it does tell you everytime you turn it on, but I don't think the coastline has changed much since so not too worried.
Maybe more essential if you cruise hundreds of miles in different areas and of course buoyage has been known to change.
[70521]
Well-Known Member
There is an Open Source Project http://www.openseamap.org that does free charts. It will take some time to get up to the quality of data that is in the OpenStreet map project.
eddystone
Well-Known Member
Every year! You could miss a lot of buoyage changes in that time. It's free with paper charts (well apart from the cost of a Rotring pen)
prv
Well-Known Member
Quite.
If I had to guess the average age of electronic charts in use, I'd take a stab in the dark at five years or so. Some people conscientiously keep them up to date, but plenty of others never change the original cartridge they bought with the plotter.
I do keep my paper charts up to date.
Pete
nigelmercier
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Depends where you sail, I doubt that there have been any charted updates in the last 10 years where I am.
Skylark
Well-Known Member
Navionics is fairly straight forward and the instructions on the website are easy to follow. If your chip included one year free updates (as did mine), the year starts from when you register on the website, not when purchased. You could update every day, if you were so inclined.
After the first year, I don't know the price of subsequent years' subscription but I can't image I'll be saying "that was inexpensive, what a pleasant surprise"
After the first year, I don't know the price of subsequent years' subscription but I can't image I'll be saying "that was inexpensive, what a pleasant surprise"
maby
Well-Known Member
Navionics give you a year of free updates following purchase - done on-line by plugging the chart chip into a PC loaded with the appropriate client software.
After your initial year is up, you can purchase further years of updates at a price that is rather lower than the cost of a new chip of the same type.
After your initial year is up, you can purchase further years of updates at a price that is rather lower than the cost of a new chip of the same type.
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
Respect!
NPMR
Well-Known Member
I took the view that the same update period was to be used for electronic charts as I used for paper charts.
In practice that means every other year but if we were going somewhere 'new' (i.e. waters we did not know to some degree) then we'd get an update, as well as new charts for the 'new' area. This year, that meant the Solent and Channel islands.
We had new charts (electronic) this year.
We plan to go back down the W coast of France next year, and at this moment, I feel I have no justification on lobbing out on new charts, either electronic or paper as the paper ones are still relevant from last year and the electronic are still 'young' enough.
On our last boat, we had C-Map. This boat has Raymarine and Navionics. The Raymarine kit is superior but I still prefer the C-Map charts. I think C-Map was a bit cheaper than Navionics
In practice that means every other year but if we were going somewhere 'new' (i.e. waters we did not know to some degree) then we'd get an update, as well as new charts for the 'new' area. This year, that meant the Solent and Channel islands.
We had new charts (electronic) this year.
We plan to go back down the W coast of France next year, and at this moment, I feel I have no justification on lobbing out on new charts, either electronic or paper as the paper ones are still relevant from last year and the electronic are still 'young' enough.
On our last boat, we had C-Map. This boat has Raymarine and Navionics. The Raymarine kit is superior but I still prefer the C-Map charts. I think C-Map was a bit cheaper than Navionics
prv
Well-Known Member
Surely the answer here is to just apply the paper-chart updates? Only cost is a couple of hours of your time; personally I rather enjoy it.
I've never sailed the west coast of France, but I remember from updating my big Western Channel passage chart that a number of large offshore buoys around the corner of Ushant were removed last winter (replaced with virtual AIS targets). You might get a surprise if you were planning to use them...
Pete
Bru
Well-Known Member
I must be either exceptionally conscientious or a bit of a twit then 'cos I religiously update my paper charts before every trip and now that I have the dubious pleasure of a proper chart plotter to play with too I do the same with that
Actually, updating the electronic charts is so easy that there's really no excuse for not doing it routinely before each trip. Updating the paper charts isn't much of a chore either when it's done regularly
I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable around the East Coast with out of date charts as there's almost always relevant bouyage or depth changes to make
Actually, updating the electronic charts is so easy that there's really no excuse for not doing it routinely before each trip. Updating the paper charts isn't much of a chore either when it's done regularly
I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable around the East Coast with out of date charts as there's almost always relevant bouyage or depth changes to make
prv
Well-Known Member
Depends on the system you use. For some people it costs not-insignificant money to update, which seems like a reasonable excuse to me. Glad to see that things seem to be moving in the right direction though.
Pete
Bru
Well-Known Member
I can understand that in less dynamic areas of the coast / oceans even annual updates might not be entirely essential but to go even a year without updates around the Thames Estuary would leave me a nervous wreck! So since I've got to bite the bullet and pay the money to Navionics anyway I might as well update the charts regularly
Of course, that's fine with Navionics where it's an annual fee to have access to the update service as often as you like but things might be different if each update incurred individual charges!
onesea
Well-Known Member
Hmm so I am a bad buoy when my local chart is 10+ years old (uncorrected), and as I get further away my charts get newer but still not corrected?
Then again we sailed off the edge of our charts the other year!
Chart corrections to me are a bit like osmosis, as long as you are not stupid you might get embarrassed but should not come to harm...
