ANY GPSs with ability to plot routes on PC?

[ozscott]

The Magelan Explorist XL uses a Bluechart which is a slightly changed Navionics Gold. You can plug it into a PC and edit the maps on there, creating routs on your PC screen and saving them to the GPS and then go off an use the GPS with the route able to be dislplayed and followed on the chart.

Do any boat only units (Magellan's is a bit small - mobile unit 3.5 inch screen) allow this to happen?

Cheers

[Fishin_Dan]

You can do it with Garmin. My GPS72 lets me do it. As long as you can transfer routes to the unit (Reliant on the software more than the GPS), you should be able to do it.

[25_ponies]

Ozscott, are you talking about doing this in real time while underway, or downloading your track at a later stage ?

For real time tracking, your GPS will need to have NMEA out (which most do). This can be connected to your laptop serial port to display your position in real time on moving map software, such as Mapsource, OziExplorer or even (if you have a big enough cache) Google Earth.

If you want to download afterwards, you will need a GPS that can record tracks and then export this as a file to a PC, which is then imported into your mapping software. This will usually require a Serial or USB interface.

Hope this helps. If you have any more info about your specific requirements or setup, post it up.

Cheers,

Alan.

[ozscott]

thanks fellas - no, im talking before boating, creating a route on your PC and then downloading that to the chart card and then sticking the chart card in the GPS and having the route dislpayed on the electronic chart to follow...

[shonky1]

Raymarine A65 has this ability, if you register your unit with Raymarine they let you download a program called Raytech Navigator. You can download your waypoints /routes via a compact flash disk to your PC then plan your route and upload to the plotter via compactflash

[ozscott]

Dan do you have the GPSMAP 172C?

How does it work? Do you use a card reader to read the blue chart on a program on your PC, create the route on the PC, save it to the card and then go stick the card in the GPS and follow the route with the electronic map as the backdrop and the route on it - ie the same as if you had sat in the boat and created the route (slowly) on the screen?

Much appreciate the help/

[ozscott]

sorry - one other thing. How does Blue chart rate against say Cmap and Navionics? I would be using it around Moreton Bay and Jumpinpin

[Fishin_Dan]

Nah mate, I have a GPS72. It's one of the handheld B&W non mapping GPS's.

Essentially I just connect it to my laptop with a serial cable and then transfer waypoint/tracks/routes to and from it.

I can run the software at home, and plot a few waypoints in, then create a route between them. Then I transfer it to the GPS, and when out on the water, use it as though I had plotted them via the GPS.

The non-handheld's can do the same, but you use the card & a card reader on the computer.

[Fishin_Dan]

And I am thinking that you might meen track rather than route...

Do you mean the dotted black line that "follows" where you go? If so, that's the track. You cannot (that I am aware of) create those in the software no.

[Fishin_Dan]

sorry - one other thing. How does Blue chart rate against say Cmap and Navionics? I would be using it around Moreton Bay and Jumpinpin

In essence they are all the same. The difference between them is the GPS units it will talk to. Different brands use different formats internally to the files. This is why you cannot save all your marks from BlueChart and open the file directly with Navionics... You can get some programs that will convert them for you though....

BlueChart is Garmin. Navionics is Lowrance. Cmap is (I think) Navman.


Hope I haven't confused you too much

[ozscott]

appreciate all that mate.. Cheers

[Thunderbird]

Scott i run a 182c garmin with bluechart
You need a mapsource program as well as the cables to connect the unit to the p.c and 12v dc power. After that you're laughing I've got next to zero computer skills but even a novice like me can edit waypoints, create a route on the computer and download it to my gps, save waypoints on the pc and then download them onto the gps(which is a heap faster than entering them on the gps unit)and also get the latest software downloads from garmin for free.
Having said that i think that the navionics charts are more detailed from what i've seen but it's a shame they don't offer the interface capabilities with a pc that the garmin does.
If there is anyone that feels i've got it wrong please tell me so.
cheers birdy..

[Smelly]

Thunderbird,

Can u plese tell me the links of the soft/hard ware for this action (GPS Garmin - PC connectivitiy)..?

THanks

[ozscott]

Thanks Tbird. I have done some talking to Trymax. They reckon that the Mapsource puts the charts on your PC and you can route on the PC directly - is that right from your experience?

They also tell me that instead of a card reader, its better to swap routes directly between machines using a seriel cable.

If I get the mapsource software, I still need a blue chart card, or does mapsource come with one chart, allowing you to download to a blank data card. I dont want to double up on the chart if I dont have to $$$.

I compared the navionics on the Lowrance 5 inch combo with the Garmin 178C combo with blue chart, and I dont think, despite the so called better pixel specs o fthe Lowrance, that the Lowrance was a patch on the Garmin to look at and use. The garmin seemlessly scrolls and the colours are so much richer and clearer. I didnt see any difference in detail between the 2 maps. Whats also bloody impressive is that in tricky passages such as Kanipa passage at the Pin etc, both charts have a light purple line showing the best line (over the deepest water and away from obsticles such as wrecks)!!.

Cheers

[Thunderbird]

Yeah scott i didn't bother with a card reader, i go through the unit.
You need the mapsource program (for the pc) as well as a bluechart card(for the gps) the interface cable (joins the gps to the pc) and a 12v power supply and you're away.
The boys at trymax would know what they're talking about.
initial set up will put a dent in the budget but over the years it will save you that in fuel many times over