Canadian Yachting April 2015 - (Page 4)

VANTAGE POINT Crowd Sourced Navigation Info... For increased fun, better navigation for all boaters and an enhanced sense of community, go boating more and contribute to crowd sourced chart information. It's easy and beneficial too. I was at the Miami International Boat Show at a press event held by the FLIR and Raymarine people where I ran into ABYC Vice President and Education Director, Ed Sherman. He is an expert in marine electrical and electronics and it was a great opportunity for me to buttonhole Ed and ask what he thought about the latest electronics, navigation software and accessories. In addition to his ABYC responsibilities, Ed was one of the judges for the Miami International Boat Show Innovation Awards, organized through Boating Writers International, BWI. He shared with me that in the category of Consumer Electronics, Apps & Software: Navionics Inc., had won an Award for their SonarCharts and SonarCharts Live products. Navionics has just introduced their HD bathymetric map that accepts sonar logs from both plotters and mobile devices. Users of Hummingbird, Lowrance, Raymarine, Simrad, B&G and Garmin as well as mobile accessories like SonarPhone by Vexillar can record sonar logs and upload data to navionics.com to improve the detail of their favourite cruising grounds and fishing spots on SonarCharts. Navionics continuously integrates uploaded sonar logs to generate new sonar charts, ensuring boaters access to the most up-to-date and detail rich cartography. Another interesting development is Plotter Sync. At the show, Navionics introduced a significant expansion of plotter synch functionality for use with Raymarine Wi-Fi enabled multifunction displays. This allows Plotter Sync users to update charts on the navigation system and upload sonar logs directly from the boat. Once the user's smart phone or tablet is connected via Wi-Fi to the chart plotter, Plotter Sync creates a connection between the Navionics App and the Raymarine navigation system by using the app as a bridge. Users can then 4 Canadi an Yachti ng simultaneously download fresh data and upload sonar logs without removing their chart card or using a personal computer. I also attended a press briefing by the founder and president of Navionics, Giuseppe Carnevali who gave us some key background information on the current state of marine charts and why there's a great benefit to crowd-sourced information. Giuseppe Carnevali founded Navionics 31 years ago and you can assume he has amassed a great deal of knowledge since then. He told the audience that the international Council for Science had stated that, "Less than 10% of the world's seas have been charted to the same resolution as the Moon and Mars." As an example, Carnevali pointed out that there are an estimated 35,000 rocks in Norway that are not chartered at the present time. You probably will also remember earlier this year that one of the participants in the Volvo Ocean race ran aground out in the open ocean. While this is surprising, it actually makes a certain amount of sense. Charting the world's oceans is expensive and time-consuming and the reason governments do this is to provide cartography for commercial shipping. His point was that boaters need charts that are made for the areas where we all go and typically, those are areas where commercial shipping does not go. Through crowd sourcing, individuals can add rocks that may not have been chartered yet, sand bars that have shifted in a storm or new wrecks that may have become a hazard to navigation. Obviously, we will all benefit from enhanced and detailed knowledge but also, isn't it an interesting way to add another dimension of interest to your boating adventures this summer? You may want to be one of the crowd... * Andy Adams-Editor APRIL 2015 http://www.navionics.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting April 2015

Contents
Vantage Point
Waterfront
One Particular Harbour: Midland Harbour, Georgian Bay
Club Profile: Britannia Yacht Club
Feature: Inflatable Lifejacket Selection, Wear, Care and Maintenance
Galley Guys: What's New and What's Old
Feature: B.C. Boat Builder Forbes Cooper
Feature: The Ultimate Anchoring Article
Feature: Towing and Salvage
Sail Review: Bavaria Cruiser 37
CPS-ECP Port Hole
Crossing the Line

Canadian Yachting April 2015