is anyone familiar with marineplanner.com? i am planning tom sail to norfolk,va in mid-october and did not want to buy new charts and instead have looked into downloading from the marineplanner site however the charts dont look like the ones ive used from maptech. also i am somewhat confused with noaa site are the charts available to download or is there a fee?
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NOAA Charts
Eric, The NOAA charts are free (go here : http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/MCD/enc/index.htm ) You'll need an ENC reader to view the charts. Fugawi Marine is a popular choice - you can even try a free 10 day trial. (fugawi.com) (Look for the free viewer - it allows you to open up to three charts at a time, but has a few less bells and whistles than the $299 version. ) Good luck, Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer
Eric, The NOAA charts are free (go here : http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/MCD/enc/index.htm ) You'll need an ENC reader to view the charts. Fugawi Marine is a popular choice - you can even try a free 10 day trial. (fugawi.com) (Look for the free viewer - it allows you to open up to three charts at a time, but has a few less bells and whistles than the $299 version. ) Good luck, Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer
NOAA and SeaClear-all Free!
Try SeaClear with the NOAA charts. Very powerful and free! The NOAA download is a little difficult to use, but once you get them downloaded, the combination of the NOAA charts & SeaClear is awesome for no cost!
Try SeaClear with the NOAA charts. Very powerful and free! The NOAA download is a little difficult to use, but once you get them downloaded, the combination of the NOAA charts & SeaClear is awesome for no cost!
NOAA Raster Charts are also now free
You can down load raster charts for free at http://www.freeboatingcharts.com/ I was talking to a Maptech rep at the Newport Boat Show, and she said that Maptech manages the site for the government. You will still need a viewer to look at them. I have moved to ENC's with Coastal Explorer for the primary navigation computer, but I still use the raster charts on my PDA (HP iPAQ hx2495), using Maptech's Pocket Navigator with a bluetooth GPS (GlobalTek BT-338) as an in-the-pocket back-up.
You can down load raster charts for free at http://www.freeboatingcharts.com/ I was talking to a Maptech rep at the Newport Boat Show, and she said that Maptech manages the site for the government. You will still need a viewer to look at them. I have moved to ENC's with Coastal Explorer for the primary navigation computer, but I still use the raster charts on my PDA (HP iPAQ hx2495), using Maptech's Pocket Navigator with a bluetooth GPS (GlobalTek BT-338) as an in-the-pocket back-up.
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