How to Choose Your Nautical Chart?

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How to choose your

nautical chart?

How to choose your nautical chart?

How to choose your

nautical chart?

5 Tips for choosing your nautical charts

1. Where do nautical charts originate?

2. Format selection: Raster or Vector marine charts?

3. Which charts formats are compatible with my software?

4. Nautical charts provider selection

5. Extra data selection: satellite photos, tidal currents and more

How to choose your nautical chart?

1. Where do nautical charts originate?

Marine Raster Charts are geo-referenced, digital images of Official Hydrographic Office and select private navigational charts. True color copies of the official paper chart of hydrographic services, marine raster charts are the most reliable, allowing you to display on screen the official paper charts that you were accustomed to use.

Figure 1 - Raster chart

How to choose your nautical chart?

Marine Vector Charts utilize a vector database to build the chart display. This data is stored in layers and records every nautical chart feature such as coastlines, buoys, lights, etc. These features and their attributes such as position, color, size, shape, and others are stored in a database allowing them to be selectively displayed and interrogated. In many areas of the globe where there’s no hydrographic service, vector maps are often the only reference.

Figure 2 - Baja California Vector chart

How to choose your nautical chart?

2. Format selection: Raster or Vector marine charts?

Figure 3- Vector vs Raster nautical charts

You have to determine first whether you prefer Vector or Raster marine charts. Indeed, it’s hard to say which one is the best format, it will mostly depend on the user personal preferences, habits and needs.

Traditional paper chart users tend to like Raster Charts, since visually these are an exact reproduction of the paper chart. Vector Charts are stored as a database and drawn on the computer or plotter screen by the software, thus the display of a Vector Chart does not resemble a paper chart.

How to choose your nautical chart?

Raster Charts Vector Charts

Reliability: a true color photocopy of Dynamic aspect: the light- the official paper charts of the houses, buoys, soundings and Hydrographic Services. If you have coast-lines are objects that are always used paper charts for digitally-linked and managed in navigation, the use of raster charts a database. This provides the provides you a format you are flexibility of customizing the already familiar with. charts and filtering data.

Raster Charts become pixelated when Vector charts become very over zoomed. inaccurate when over zoomed from the native scales.

How to choose your nautical chart?

3. Which charts formats are compatible with my software?

The more versatile your software is, the easier it will be to find the best and most accurate charts for your specific area.

MaxSea’s main advantage is its compatibility with a wide range of marine chart formats:

 Marine Raster charts: MapMedia mm3d Raster

 Marine Vector charts: Datacore by Navionics, C-MAP by Jeppesen & HOs S-57

How to choose your nautical chart?

4. Marine cartography provider selection

The MapMedia mm3d offer is constantly growing to ensure the most complete data catalogue:

 Raster mm3d catalogue

This is the most reliable information to date thanks to agreements with the

main hydrographic services (SHOM, NOAA, etc.).

 « C-MAP by Jeppesen » Vector mm3d catalogue

A world-renowned product, C-MAP charts are trusted across the globe and

offer accuracy and regular updates.

 « Datacore by Navionics » Vector mm3d catalogue

Datacore charts have a worldwide coverage and thousands of satisfied users.

 HO S57 Vector mm3d catalogue

Vector charts from national hydrographic services available for US and

Norway.

How to choose your nautical chart?

5. Extra data selection: satellite photos, tidal currents and more

After choosing your nautical chart format, note that some cartography providers like

MapMedia offer more complete data packs with aerial photos and 3D display as a complement to their marine charts.

MaxSea TimeZero software technology and MapMedia cartography guarantee the most comprehensive cartographic data offer of the market with two types of marine chart format for each area, High Resolution Tidal Currents and the combination of 3D data and High

Resolution Satellite Photos thanks to the PhotoFusion feature.

Figure 4 – Gulf of Morbihan High Resolution Tidal Currents

How to choose your nautical chart?

MapMedia offers a wide range of over 6.000 marine raster charts

restoring the accuracy and reliability of national hydrographic offices

paper charts. MapMedia also produces vector charts through

collaborations with the best charts editors of the market: Navionics,

Jeppesen and some national hydrographic services (databases S57 for

USA and Norway). MapMedia is able to provide a complete catalogue of

vector charts along with marine raster charts offer.

MapMedia is a subsidiary of MaxSea International, the leader provider of

marine navigation software.