[thebob]

Hi all

System all Raymarine driving an Autohelm Tillerpilot 1000. I have an iBook G4 1Ghz. 1Gb RAM. 160Gb HD.

To be honest researching GPS for the Mac has been very confusing. The software it self is not the problem, but finding maps, always leads to a spiral that drags me to US based resourses.

I am based in the Philippines on British Admaralty Chart 4473 South Tannon Straight.

So looking at this purely in an availability of maps way, what reccomendations do you suggest.

My crusing areas are centered in the Philippines but include, Borneo, Sumartra, Java, Honk Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Possibly as far as Darwin in Australia.

I am quite computer literate, especially on the Mac, but it appears to me the market is not yet global in it's reach. Are there any sites that give a beginers guide to this field?

I can understand that sales are driven by the popular US market, but I am hunting for the global aspect of GPS, that will allow me to finally rest my paper charts and Davis Mk III.

Thanks in advance.

[adjuvantjfoster]

take a look at http://www.globalfusion.com/Charts/index.html

[jagasail]

Also try Chartworld for the S-57 and S-63 charts. And it's not US bases...

Primar-Stavanger.org has a java based catalog (i.e. works on a Mac) you can use for identifying the currently available S-57 and S-63 charts. I know they have some covering your area. Of course this all assumes you're using MacENC and not GPSNavX.

One other thought... I don't know the current status of PassagePlus but I believe it used the British Admiralty ARCS charts, which have pretty broad global coverage. I only looked at the demo once last year, and while it wasn't quite up to MacENC's level it might be adequate.

Scot

[outstripp]

I sail in the PI also (Cebu). The ENC charts for the Philippines are available from the British Admiralty. They are numbered from about GB36300 to GB36800. GB360660 covers the Tanon Strait. The whole of the PI are not covered yet.

I bought mine from DPM (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD
1 Maritime Square #09-72 (Use Lift @ Lobby B)
HarbourFront Centre (Formerly World Trade Centre)
Singapore 099253
Chong Chee Meng <Chong@dpmsingapore.com.sg>

There is a minumum purchase of US$250 (for one year) so you have to buy about 10 charts. They are updated almost weekly and they send you fresh CDs so you end up with zillions of CDs. I doubt that the PI charts are actually updated that often, if at all, but the CDs contains charts for the whole world (you can't display them of course).

Note that you have to send them your MacENC User Permit number (visible in the Chart Manager) in order to view the charts. I own about 10 Macs (don't ask) and I didn't understand the system, so I sent in a Permit Number for a Mac that I couldn't use on my boat, so I had to get another ENC permit from them (as a "backup") to view the charts on my boat.

You can get free ENC charts for the South China Sea from http://www.scsenc.org.hk/main.htm

although the areas in Malaysian waters are quite stingy in terms of details.

I have about 700 graphic files of old US charts of the PI. Most are 60-100 years old, but the current NAMRIA charts are nearly identical and the printing quality is worse. They all fit on a CD and I can send it to you if you want. Where's your boat, Bais or Bonbonon?