November 26, 2009 21:01
1) At the moment the documentation online/supplied with the program is all that is available. The rest is for users to figure out or to ask here (or through any other means 
). As with any product under development, it is difficult to keep documentation completely updated - and this situation will probably get worse before it gets better.
2) Yes, it would appear to be so.
Scale is "reverse" to amount of detail. I.e. (in general) a large scale chart covers a small area with more detail (for example, at scale 1:1 you get "real world size" ). A small scale chart covers a large area with less detail (for example at scale of 1:64000000 you get an entire world map on screen).
4) Scale, in particular for vector charts, is a tricky thing. What you see down in the status bar is at best an "approximation" at a certain middle lattitude. Since chart scale changes with latitude (in Mercator projection which is what is used for marine navigation), the same visible distance on screen will actually represent a different distance in real world as you move about the chart.
Aside from that issue, however, it is not enough to simply draw a bar across the bottom of the screen and say "this is X Nautical Miles". The scale has to provide a reasonable visual guidance, that adds value (above and beyond what the measurement tool that is currently there already provides).
). As with any product under development, it is difficult to keep documentation completely updated - and this situation will probably get worse before it gets better.2) Yes, it would appear to be so.
Scale is "reverse" to amount of detail. I.e. (in general) a large scale chart covers a small area with more detail (for example, at scale 1:1 you get "real world size"
). A small scale chart covers a large area with less detail (for example at scale of 1:64000000 you get an entire world map on screen). 4) Scale, in particular for vector charts, is a tricky thing. What you see down in the status bar is at best an "approximation" at a certain middle lattitude. Since chart scale changes with latitude (in Mercator projection which is what is used for marine navigation), the same visible distance on screen will actually represent a different distance in real world as you move about the chart.
Aside from that issue, however, it is not enough to simply draw a bar across the bottom of the screen and say "this is X Nautical Miles". The scale has to provide a reasonable visual guidance, that adds value (above and beyond what the measurement tool that is currently there already provides).