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Can I use a Navionics Gold cartridge with GPSnavX?

What format are the Navionics charts in? How would you get the Mac to read the cartridge? MacENC works with the open standards S-57 ENC vector charts and the BSB RNC raster charts. This includes the Navionics ENCs available at.

http://www.chartworld.com

I too would gladly pop down my money for this software if I could first find out that either MacENC or GPSNavX would definitively work with the Navionics Gold card. I am reluctant to try copying the Nav chip due to their warnings of potential data damage if you try reading the SD card from anything other than their SD card reader that they bundle with their charting software (PC only) which costs around the $100 mark IIRC. When contacting Navionics support, they only reiterated the above policy. I know that NOAA has released some free charts, but they do not carry far enough up into the Strait of Georgia for me, and DFO Canada does not offer anything for free :lol:

Sorry this doesn't answer your question, but I'm watching closely for any news here.

Regards,
Shane

Canadian CHS charts are available from Fugawi..

http://www.fugawi.com/web/products/chs_index.htm

You are correct US water charts are free from NOAA.

GPSNavX Wrote:What format are the Navionics charts in? How would you get the Mac to read the cartridge? MacENC works with the open standards S-57 ENC vector charts and the BSB RNC raster charts. This includes the Navionics ENCs available at.

http://www.chartworld.com

Er, I don't know what format the cartridge is, but it is an official Navionics Gold XL3 card. I currently have it plugged in to our Lowrance plotter.

I imagine I would need to buy the Navionics card reader or similar.

http://www.panbo.com/archives/2006/03/na...otcha.html

you can view navionics charts on a mac by running raymarine navigator in a virtual machine w/ windows.

The Navionics charts that are compatible with MacENC (and supplied by Chartworld) are in encrypted S57 format. This requires a permit to decrypt the charts which are licensed to a particular computer (via a unique ID)

Navionics XL /Gold etc charts, as far as I'm aware, are not in encrypted S57 format, as there's no key required to decrypt the charts. I would assume (and I've emailed Navionics on this, but not received a reply) that Navionics XL / Gold charts are derived from the original S57 data it purchases / digitises from the various international hydrographic offices (and sells via Chartworld), but then enriches with additional data (tides, port facilities etc). However, this is based on a series of assumptions so I'd love to be proven wrong.

It all boils down to this:

Has anyone actually tried running Navionics XL / GOLD charts with MacENC?

The cartridges are standard Compact Flash cards, so any card reader would work. It should be pretty straightforward to see if they're in S57.. search the card for any CATALOG.031 file.

It is slightly worrying that working global charts can only be sourced from www.chartworld.com and not from Navionics officially though..

It is slightly worrying that working global charts can only be sourced from www.chartworld.com and not from Navionics officially though

I agree. Makes me want to scratch my head.

If I can borrow a card reader (or how much is a cheap one?) I'll give it a go with MacENC.

I would assume a card reader for transferring photos off a digital camera that uses compact flash card would work. The one I have cost about $10-$15, a lot cheaper than the Navionics reader I'd bet.

I did a quick look around the Navionics site but couldn't find any pricing info -although I could before: just don't remember it for sure. IIRC the card reader alone was around $80, while the NavPlanner pkg was maybe $110/120. Not inexpensive.

Regards,
Shane

jagasail Wrote:I would assume a card reader for transferring photos off a digital camera that uses compact flash card would work. The one I have cost about $10-$15, a lot cheaper than the Navionics reader I'd bet.

At the Annapolis Boat Show I asked the Navionics people if I could use the SD card reader built into my PC laptop to read the Navionics card and the answer was no. They said the Navionics SD cards will only function in their dedicated reader or in the slot of a chartplotter dedicated to Navionics charts. During the summer I found the free vector charts, downloaded from the gov web site, seriously lacking data in remote coastal areas in Maine. I had to switch over to Raster charts in order to navigate these areas. This started me on the search for what was offered by Navionics. I believe the Navionics card reader acts like the license so the card/reader can be used on any PC. For a cruiser this allows for a quick computer change if the primary should fail.

It would be nice if we could plug in the Navionics reader into a Mac and read the charts on MacEnc.

This would also be great if it would work, from a cost perspective. I just compared costs for South America and the Pacific, and the Navionics Gold chips are a fraction of the price of the same Navionics S-57/S-63 charts downloaded from Chartworld. They're also cheaper than C-maps (whose reader I have yet to get working with Parallels). The cost savings would almost pay for a new Navionics compatible radar/plotter.

It would also be a great selling point for MacENC...

Scot

jagasail Wrote:It would also be a great selling point for MacENC...

I agree.

When I show folk our current set up, you can easily see they are impressed. But they are confused at the same time. I mean, take us lot; we are already 'doing it' and the whole PC/GPS/Charts thing can get confusing from time-to-time.

If Apple were doing chartplotting software, how would they do it?

jagasail Wrote:I just compared costs for South America and the Pacific, and the Navionics Gold chips are a fraction of the price of the same Navionics S-57/S-63 charts downloaded from Chartworld. They're also cheaper than C-maps (whose reader I have yet to get working with Parallels). The cost savings would almost pay for a new Navionics compatible radar/plotter.

Have you noticed that folios from Chartworld are much cheaper than the charts payed per unit?

One chart costs about 150 Euro, if you have 25 charts (North Sea & Atlantic) at 150 Euro each it's rather expensive. But the complete Folio of the same region (Zone 2) costs only 1250 Euro.

Folios are all the same price.

It's still a lot of money.

Regards,

Manou

Eclipsemullet Wrote:If Apple were doing chartplotting software, how would they do it?

Ah yes, elegantly, seamlessly, wireless, on an iphone...

cyberhusky Wrote:Have you noticed that folios from Chartworld are much cheaper than the charts payed per unit?

One chart costs about 150 Euro, if you have 25 charts (North Sea & Atlantic) at 150 Euro each it's rather expensive. But the complete Folio of the same region (Zone 2) costs only 1250 Euro.

Folios are all the same price.

It's still a lot of money.

Regards,

Manou

Yes I have, but for example South America, the Region 9 portfolio is 1250 Euro, or about $1800 usd from Chartworld. The Navionics Gold+ chip for the same area I can get for about $180 usd. Add in another chip for the Marquises, which appears to be in Region 9 and you're STILL 1/5 the cost, PLUS, the second chip also includes the rest of Polynesia all the way to and including Japan...

Now the chips might not have all the S-57's that Chartworld is selling from Navionics, but Navionics doesn't make another chip with more charts for the same areas.

Someone at Chartworld is making big bucks on this...

I'd easily pay a lot more for MacENC to fund a driver for the Navionic's reader if that's a possibility. At twice the price it's still a bargain.

Scot

jagasail Wrote:Ah yes, elegantly, seamlessly, wireless, on an iphone...

The most confusing aspect of the whole electronic charting thing is the charts:

Which type do I get? Raster or vector?
Which vendor?
Where is the source material derived from and is it reliable.

etc

The biggest concern with Apple developing something like this would be them signing an exclusive agreement with a single chart vendor, ala ATT and the iPhone. That's why I'm quite happy to leave it to GPSNavX and company...

I can say with certainty that Apple Inc. has no plans to enter the marine navigation market.

While C-Map, Transas, Navionics, Garmin all have interesting chart offerings. To date they have shown no interesting in providing OS X developers support.

jagasail Wrote:That's why I'm quite happy to leave it to GPSNavX and company...

Oh, of course. I didn't mean to suggest anything else. I *love* GPSnavX and would recommend it to anyone. And do.

I was just trying to highlight that, in my opinion, the current state of electronic charting with PCs/Macs is too confusing for your average man-on-the-street. That is, perhaps, one reason dedicated chartplotters (e.g. Raymarine et al) sell so well.

GPSNavX Wrote:I can say with certainty that Apple Inc. has no plans to enter the marine navigation market

What if future iPhones have GPS built-in? Its only a matter of time....

Surely there's a sufficient market of Mac and Linux users to justify some kind of non-Windows library for accessing Navionics or CMAP charts.

I don't know what the current market is, but I'd hazard a guess that between current Linux and Mac users who sail, there must be at least 50,000 users world-wide... and non-Windows market share is increasing all of the time.

Whoever offers support first could become the standard for commercial vector cartography on non-Windows boxes.. and would have a killer app like MacENC to push!

4 months gone by, are there any news concerning navionics charts?
to me, it would still be a most teasing feature, if navionics and/or CMAP charts could be used within macenc.

Best regards,
Alexander

Navionics charts (S-57/S-63 ENCs) work just fine with MacENC. They can be obtained exclusively through Chartworld