Coastal Explorer Navigation Software
Blanche Bunnell
In addition - Microsoft uses Bitlocker to encrypt the boot sector of your SSD (or Hard Drive). Once you upgrade to Win11 it is impossible to roll back to an image of Win10 (or do a clean install of Windows 10).
I am still on windows 10 on my dell XFR laptop, when I got this laptop I had to send it back to dell to get the internal gps antenna working correctly. Considering upgrading to win 11, primarily because I am having issues connected to wireless networks. Any one had issues with the gps antenna for coastal explorer when upgrading to win 11?
By Lt. Adam Reed, Integrated Oceans and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) Assistant Coordinator
The United States has about 3,400,000 square nautical miles of water within our coastal and Great Lakes jurisdiction. Coast Survey, who is responsible for charting that vast area, averages about 3,000 square nautical miles of hydrographic surveying each year. The data collected by those surveys update over a thousand NOAA charts. However, hydrographic surveys are expensive and laborious, and so Coast Survey directs them toward the highest priority sites, which leaves many coastal areas without updates for many years.
Coast Survey may soon get new sources of information, provided voluntarily by mariners, which will alert cartographers to areas where shoaling and other changes to the seafloor have made the chart inaccurate.
Using data from private sources is not new for Coast Survey. Private interactive cruising guides and other internet-based enterprises have set up services that allow commercial mariners and recreational boaters to share information about navigation hazards they see (or experience) while on the water. The United States Power Squadrons and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary have a decades-long tradition of sharing updates through our cooperative charting programs. But the lack of appropriate software and integration between sources has hampered efforts to use the information to its full potential.
Hydrographic offices around the world are re-thinking crowdsourced bathymetry. In October 2014, Coast Survey led the U.S. delegation to the Fifth Extraordinary International Hydrographic Conference, with Rear Admiral Gerd Glang at the helm. At this meeting, the U.S. and France jointly proposed an initiative (see Proposal No. 4) that introduced crowdsourced bathymetry as a recognized source of data for nautical charts. One of the results of that initiative was the formation of the IHO Crowdsourced Bathymetry Working Group (IHO CSBWG) that set out to develop crowdsourcing principles and guidelines, and then offer a platform for sharing best practices around the world.
Working hand-in-hand with NCEI, the working group has developed a database that can receive volunteered bathymetric data. Data can come from anyone in the world, and everyone can access it.
Navigating the Intracoastal Waterway's (ICW) shallow and constricted waters can seem daunting. You will be underway for about 30 days in a row to cover its 1000-1500 miles, depending upon where your start. Your helm station has a depth finder and probably has a chartplotter. You may have AIS and radar, too. You may be stocked with paper charts and guidebooks, yet we have a nagging concern about the unknown. Whether you have a full suite of navigation instruments or are cruising south with a depth finder and a paper chart, there is one navigation tool which you must have: a tablet with a navigation app.
The impact of tablet navigation apps will affect all cruisers differently based upon their experience, their existing navigation tools, and the cruising grounds. A tablet with navigation software allows you to scan the charted area ahead and around you looking for new options and destinations, while the chartplotter continues to provide your location.
Over the years we have used several different iOS navigation apps. This article is not a review of navigation apps but discusses the two iOS apps we have found to be the best and which we use every day: Aqua Map and Navionics. The Aqua Map and Navionics apps each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
The tablet navigation apps (including cell phone apps) offer many options. You may not need to utilize all the options depending upon what your navigation equipment has. Your chartplotter uses charts based upon some flavor of NOAA charts. Some chartplotter charts are easy to update, but many are not. Tablet systems are also based on the NOAA charts but are very easily updated. In the ICW, up-to-date charts, a calibrated depth finder, and stabilized binoculars are essential equipment.
For cruising the ICW today, a good, calibrated depth finder is essential (we prefer the fish finder display!). This is a game of inches. You must be sure that when the depth finder says six feet it really is sox feet. Only the Navionics Sonar Charts and Aqua Map Master USACE surveys can provide up to date chart depth information which is essential along parts of the ICW.
After 12 trips on the ICW, I would recommend that cruisers use both apps. We have found that the tracks we have laid using each app will usually match the route the other one would have suggested. Sonar Charts tracks match well with the USACE surveys on Aqua Map. The USACE survey tracks matched very well with Navionics Sonar Chart soundings, too. But while the Sonar charts of Navionics and the USACE surveys in Aqua Map are better than the NOAA bathymetry, no charts are perfect. The up-to-date USACE ICW surveys from Aqua Map, where available, are an essential tool. Navionics Sonar Charts are also terrific charts for the ICW, and they provide updated bathymetry when you are (most all of the time) outside the narrow range of the USCE surveys. Both apps allow you to share tracks and routes.
Screenshot two shows the same track on the same day using Aqua Map Master. The east/west upper portion of this chart is covered by the USACE survey. It very clearly shows the deepest water. These surveys are of great value along the ICW. The north/south portion is the NOAA chart. It has not been surveyed by the USACE. In one area where NOAA shows 5.9 feet the Sonar Chart shows 14 feet (confirmed by our depth finder). Also note that G1B shown on Navionics is not shown on the NOAA chart; however, it is indeed on station there.
In screenshot three, I have colorized the Navionics Sonar chart (one of the many tools available in Navionics). It quite clearly shows the shoal in the middle of the river south of G1A and a seven- to eight-foot shoal growing out towards G1A, which is handy information as you approach that point.
Both Aqua Map Master with USACE surveys, and Navionics with Sonar Chart crowd-sourced bathymetry, are excellent programs. Although we have run the east coast from Florida to New England many times with the Navionics charts, having access to the USACE surveys adds another layer of useful content for route planning. Each time we transit the ICW we are very glad to have access to the USACE surveys (NOTE: the surveys can have a significant delay in updates post dredging.)
Clearly boats travelling the ICW must have charts with updated depth data not available on the standard NOAA issued charts. Navionics is providing chart updates almost continuously so you will want to take advantage of any new information. All boats on the ICW would be well advised to have both apps.
About the Author: Tom Hale is a sailor, cruiser, and retired boat-builder. Previously an Annapolis resident, he is now a full-time cruiser, traveling the East Coast on a 38-foot trawler with his partner Christina and their beagle Aurora. They have made 11 trips along the ICW.
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