A warning using C-map with TZ

[mvweebles]

Peter,



What is an ATON?

Aids to Navigation. NOAAs shorthand for all lights, marks, beacons, etc that are part of their navigation and charting ecosystem.

I agree with your general premise - that the sanctioned US survey authorities provide base data that is then interpreted and interpolated by the likes of Navionics. The rendered view looks highly accurate and precise but in many areas simply isn't. My understanding is that the ENC vector charts are updated with bathymetric data provided by commercial ships that are calibrated to provide accurate soundings. Navionics attempts to do a similar crowd sourced bathymetry survey without controls on the donor vessels. I guess that if you get enough data points the conclusion will converge on an accurate sample (I believe it's called Baysian Analysis).

Bottom line is I suspect many folks use the super-zoomed "highway" view and keep their boat just to starboard of the center line as they would when driving on a road. It's a seductive enforcement of a natural habit. But as you note, the roadway is imaginary. Even if it's accurate 99% of the time......

Peter

Peter

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks. I'm trying to avoid extraneous additional devices. My 38 footer doesn't have the expansive helm station of a Nordhavn 50, and would not be dragging a PC up to the flybridge for basic functionality when operating from there.

What he said. No need to buy/use TZ at all, if you don't want to.

We chose to, as an additional back-up/complement to the NavNET 3D MFD we installed back on the previous boat... and that plan continues when we get a new TZT3 MFD installed on this boat.

But TZ is completely optional. We keep it running on the ship's laptop in the cabin while underway, partly to record our track (redundant recording), partly as a hot spare should the MFD on the bridge crap out... but that never happened. (And we also run something like Aqua Map on a tablet on the bridge, as I mentioned before, partly for mobility and guest info.)

More often, we use TZ for research and planning, and some of that happens on the home system too since 2 licenses came with our version of TZ. And I can use a full range of PC tools on charts when I feel like it (snip and then print/file/email map portions, compare with Google Earth, etc.).

-Chris

@FWT

Our new TZT3 MFD is installed now, and the NOAA raster and vector charts are exactly the same files that we have installed on our TZ ship's laptop and our TZ home/office planning computer.

(I'd expect an update soon, and it looks like that happens via WiFi on the TZT16.)

Plus there's a boatload of 3D, photo, bathy, etc. files, ditto many of the same ones we have installed on the computers. I didn't check those extensively yet, but I'll compare at my leisure. Those to are simple downloads.

-Chris

 

[FWT]

Thanks Chris. I need to turn my attention back to this soon.