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+--- Thread: Future Strategy GPSNavX/MacENC? (/thread-179.html)
Future Strategy GPSNavX/MacENC? - jagasail - July 19, 2006
I've been thinking about charts...
With the acquisition of Softchart by Maptech, and the apparent reduction of chart availability (particularly non-US), I'm wondering where GPSNavX and MacENC may be going over the next year. For US coastal waters this doesn't appear a problem with NOAA making the BSB's available. Ditto for MacENC. However, for those of us with further horizons in mind, neither the BSB's or currently available ENCs provide adequate coverage. ENC's seem to be quickly filling in the more detailed, smaller scale charts, but there are still fewer broad scale 'oceanic' charts for major passage making. Both have some detailed coverage of some areas (notable North America and Europe), but there are vast areas which neither provide much coverage, such as Asia, Indian Ocean, Africa, Most of South America, and vast expanses of the Pacific.
I'm struggling with this while planning on going to the South Pacific next year or so. Right now it appears I would need GPSNavX and MacENC, plus PassagePlus (to avail myself to the large offering of ARCS charts). Not an ideal situation. I'd rather have a single solution, preferably MacENC.
Hence, part of my question is do you anticipate expanding compatability with other types of charts? I realize that C-Map's are out of your control, as probably are Navionics. Are there other sources of international BSB charts that will work with GPSNavX and/or MacENC?
Mostly, I'm annoyed at Maptech...and frustrated at the big gaps in ENC coverage.
Scot
- GPSNavX - July 19, 2006
Yes Maptech pulled the rug out from us with their removal of all international charts from marineplanner.com. Very slimy to say the least. There were lots of charts on marineplanner.com that were not available anywhere else. ARCs look nice, but quite pricey. Maybe Transas? Supporting more formats is a huge investment in engineering time because none of these chart suppliers offer libraries to read the charts on OS X. Supporting S-57 has and is a huge ongoing project. MacENC is the best solution as it can display more than one vector chart at a time. GPSNavX and PassagePlus have all the limitations related to raster charts. My hope is that the S-57/S-63 library continues to grow as vector charts are the real solution.