Garmin Charts

[Rick Webb]

I just got around to buying the HomePort software for my GPS charts. When trying to plot a route I noticed that I could not find bridge height information, anywhere. I have the Garmin BlueChart g2 Vision charts. I called Garmin spoke to a real nice guy but the best he could help with is "some have information some do not". It does not seem to me that is an insignificant piece of information and if that piece of information is omitted from the charts what else is not there that is going to bite me in the ass. I am going to email the cartography department as was suggested in the phone call. I was just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences with their Garmin charts?

 

[Winkfish]

Rick, I have the same charts for my handheld. They are years out of date. I use mine when running through the marshes fishing, and it often shows me running over land that disappeared some time ago. But I use it in conjunction with up to date satellite charts, so it doesn't bother me too much.

I think the charts may be more accurate depending on where you go. When I used the gps in the Keys a couple of years ago, the gps chart was as up to date as the NOAA charts for the area.

 

[kloudie1]

I find that unless I zoom in very tight, the bridge info is not available.. Try zooming in a lot.
Some kind of artifact from their conversion from raster to vector charts, I think.

 

[Kennyge]

I was just looking today on HomePort for a bridge height and saw that if you zoom all the way in and then click on the bridge, the height comes up. I have also seen that if you have Active Captain on HomePort, which is a free must have, you can sometimes find the height info on one of their markers.

 

[Rick Webb]

I Think I Cracked It

I had tried to zoom in on the bridge and click it all sorts of ways before I posted the question. Here is what I have figured out after spending damn near a whole day on it

At least on fixed bridges:

Zoom in on the name of the bridge where it says "fixed bridge"
In the tool bar click on the "Select" button (looks like an arrow)
Left click quickly on the middle of the "X" in fixed
should pop up may take a couple of clicks to get the location and the timing correct

Whish I could have found this in the "Help" I have not found the help to be of much help.

Thank y'all.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Thanks, neat idea. If using raster charts, you have to "look around" to find the bridge info, which is usually no where near the danged bridge! And the font is way bad.

When in doubt, go to www.activecaptain.com and read their raster charts. The bridges don't change too often, do they?

You can also get booklet raster charts from NOAA, or the full fledged charts themselves for download.

Vector charts? Yuck, at least for me.