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Charts are the heart of the program. The software is designed to allow users to interact with charts in order to plan, navigate, and better enjoy their time on the water. For information on importing charts into the program, please refer to Importing.
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The program supports the following chart types. In addition to these types, C-Map NT+, MAX and MAX Pro charts are also supported.
| Charts: |
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A datum is a model used to define the size, shape & centre of the earth. It is used to establish latitude and longitude coordinate locations for points on the Earth's surface.
There are a variety of datums in active use, resulting in the possibility that co-ordinates of a given location calculated using one datum may differ by hundreds of feet from the same co-ordinates calculated from another datum. Before relying on any co-ordinate location information, it is important to know what datum was used in establishing the co-ordinates.
The World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) is the most commonly used worldwide datum. The program displays all co-ordinates in the WGS84 datum. To do this, co-ordinates may have to be "shifted" into the WGS84 datum. In some cases the program will be unable to determine the original datum of charts, or be unable to shift the datum into the WGS84 datum. In these cases the program will assume the chart datum to be WGS84 & display "Assuming WGS84" in red letters in the chart info page.
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As mentioned in the Basic Operations help
page, the default background chart displayed by the program is the World Chart
for both C-Map and Other mode. The World Chart
can always be brought into full view by clicking on the World View button 
in the Main Toolbar.
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Detailed Chart Information can be found in the Chart tab of the Properties view, as well as in NavManager.
To view the Chart Information in the Properties view, open a layout containing the properties viewer by right-clicking on the chart and choosing Properties, then select the Chart tab from the Properties viewer (see image below this one.)
Access to Properties can also be obtained through NavManager.
Open NavManager 
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right-click on the Chart, then left-click on Properties.
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Note that removing a Chart does not delete the Chart from the computer, but just removes the Chart from the program.
Using the Context Menu: Remove a Chart by right-clicking on the chart to be removed so that the Chart Operations appears. If a Context appears for a different mode, for Routes or Markers or Zones for example, then move the mouse away from any Routes, Markers, or Zones, and right-click on an unoccupied portion of the Chart. From that menu, left-click on the Remove Chart button from the sub-menu, and the selected Chart will be removed.
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Using NavManager: NavManager also provides options for advanced Chart management allowing removal of any loaded charts. See the NavManager page for details about using NavManager to Manage Charts.
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Using NavManager: In NavManager
, select
the chart to hide and click the Hide Selected 
button. NavManager also provides the Show Selected 
button for returning charts to view.
Using the Context Menu: The Chart Context Menu also allows for the hiding of charts. Mouse over the Chart to be hidden and right-click. If a Context Menu appears for a different mode, e.g., for Routes, Markers, or Zones, then move the mouse away from any routes, markers, or zones, and right-click on an unoccupied portion of the Chart. From that menu, left-click on the Hide Chart button. To restore the chart to view, mouse over the area where the Chart would be located and right-click. Select List Charts Under Cursor and check the box to the left of the chart to be restored from the displayed list.
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By default, the program provides a feature called Quilting whereby multiple charts covering a geographic area can be overlaid to create a mosaic of charts. Chart Quilting is done to seamlessly cover a geographic region and to remove the need for manually switching between individual charts.
The image below shows Chart Quilting for C-Map charts on the left-hand side. The right-hand side shows Chart Quilting for charts other than C-Map. Individual charts are automatically placed on the Main Chart View. Each chart can be viewed by Panning and Zooming over a selected area.
Quilting does have limitations and the program automatically accounts for some of these limitations, which may be caused by the very nature of chart projections. A projection is a way of representing a curved surface of the earth onto a flat chart. Many projections exist including; Mercator, Polyconic and the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). When Quilting, every chart must be shown so that geographic features are aligned between charts. Projection types and parameters will cause varying degrees of misalignment between charts that comprise the mosaic. Proper alignment of the charts should be verified. The option to remove any charts from the mosaic also exists.
In the mosaic, charts that cover a small geographic area will typically remain acceptable for viewing, but charts covering larger areas may not be acceptable, since they may exhibit greater misalignment. The program, therefore, will not display misaligned charts, but rather will display only the dashed outline of the chart. This is done to prevent the display of misaligned charts due to the quilting. These charts can be viewed in Single chart mode (in its native projection). Single chart mode offers the most accurate viewing of any chart.
Example of overlapping two large scale charts of different projection types that are unacceptable for viewing in this case. (Shown for illustration only. Such strong misalignments will not occur in the program.)
The same scenario as shown above, except with the program automatically not displaying the misaligned chart (a Polyconic chart in this example).
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Switch between Single Chart and Multiple Chart mode by selecting either Single Chart Mode or Multiple Chart Mode from the Charts menu in the Main Menu. A check mark indicates the Chart Mode presently in use.
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Some Charts have different colour modes which make them easier to view in different light conditions. For example, a Chart with a lot of white would be detrimental to night-vision when navigating after dark and may offer a less light-intensive colour mode. Not all Charts support this feature, however, and the colour modes differ from Chart to Chart. The Chart colour mode can be changed by selecting a colour mode from the General Options tab (Tools->Options->General... in the Main Menu).
The current colour mode is indicated in the colour General section.
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All Charts imported into the program can be viewed in NavManager
. To view
a list of imported charts, click on Charts in NavManager.
A list of charts imported into the program will appear, as shown below.
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In the default multiple-chart mode, there may be other charts underneath the one currently in view. To see which other loaded charts may be underneath, right-click on the chart to bring up the Chart Context Menu, right-click on Chart Operations and left-click on "List Charts" in the resulting submenu. This will cause a dialog box to appear, such as the one shown below.
The charts are listed in order of their layering, with the first listed chart being the chart on top. To view a chart at another layer, select it and click the Goto button in that dialog box.
Lower- and higher-detail charts are also visible when zooming into and out of the current chart. When another chart can provide better detail than the currently visible chart, it will be displayed.
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There are several ways to move through Charts:
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press the Selector Arrow button in the main toolbar. |
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and Zoom-Out 
buttons in the Main ToolbarAdditionally, the Zoom Box tool can zoom to a selected area. Click on the Zoom
Box icon 
located in the
main toolbar, go to the Chart, left-click and drag the mouse to draw a
rectangle in the main Chart view. A coloured rectangle shows the area
selected. When the left mouse button is released, the Chart Zooms to the portion
of the Chart covered by the coloured rectangle.
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Some charts have the ability to be viewed from an angle. When coupled with a high-detail chart and the Course Up option, this provides a useful highway view of the present course. The Main Toolbar contains 3 buttons for tilting the viewing angle of the Chart View.
Tilt Screen
Up - Raises the angle of the viewing "eye" relative to the chart
Reset
Screen Tilt - Sets the viewing angle back to 90 degrees to the chart
Tilt Screen
Down - Lowers the angle of the viewing "eye" relative to the chart
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On a chart, Scale indicates a graduated range of values forming a standard system for measuring distances on the chart. The Scale indicates the proportion between the representation and what it represents, such as in the legend "One inch equals twenty miles" on a map.
This tool is located at the bottom of the Main Chart View to show the scale of each chart. It appears like this on the bottom of the chart:
The distance to the right or left of the "0" on the Chart Scale is shown in increments based on the Scale unit selected and the actual Scale of the chart. The Scale automatically changes when zoomed in or zoomed out.
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To add or remove the Chart Scale, click on View on the main menu and left-click Scale Bar. If the tick mark appears before Scale Bar, the Scale shows on the Chart. If the tick mark is removed, the Scale will not show on the Chart.
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To switch between Metric, Imperial or Nautical units on the Scale Bar,click on Tools on the main menu. Choose Options, then click on Unit to choose the unit of measurement. Click Apply/OK and the Scale Bar at the bottom of the chart changes accordingly, to show the Scale in kilometres, miles or nautical miles.
