"the demise of paper charts

[eric3a]

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[Night Sailor]

One feature that hasn't been mentioned where GPS excels over paper is crew overboard. COB. Tracking the exact course back to where the COB button was pushed could save a life at night or in fog or heavy weather, especially if shorthanded as many of us are in our small boats.

Like Chinook I like to do planning on paper in detail and make notes on the paper, as well as on the laptop.

I also think it wise to always keep a moving update as Chinook does on the paper based on what the GPS says. Besides navigation notes, you can note other things observed like whales, fish, beaches, hotsprings, water or fuel sources, etc. More importantly, you can't predict the time when two things might happen: unit itself fails entirely, or transmission is interupted by the Defense Department for local maneuvers.

In any case one should be prepared to do coastal piloting with just basic compass, chart, depth sounder and acute observation if necessary.

[hartflat]

When the original disk operating system, (which made the personal PC affordable & possible) became available in the late 1970's, those in the know predicted that within 10 years, we would be living in a paperless business world.... err, umm, are we there yet?

Having been a pilot for over 30 yrs. I can assure you that GPS will never replace dead reckoning & paper charts anytime soon. GPS is a very useful "convenience" in the world of aviation, but it is just that, a convenience. Student pilots are trainerd & required to rely solely on maps & traditional navigational aids.

While sailing, I use a Lowrance Airmap portable aviation GPS with a memory card that has coastal maps. It's really convenient & accurate, but I still find myself refering to paper maps as an added source of comfort.

All it takes to temporarily render GPS inaccurate is a mean spirted suspot, or the satellite you're tracking to be between you & the sun (which can occur twice a year)

Paperless... maybe someday, but I don't think we're there yet.

[Chinook]

I had an interesting experience involving GPS navigation last summer. We were guests of friends on their 33' Caliber, and sailed from Connecticut to Maine. We did an overnight crossing (new experience for me) of the Gulf of Maine, from Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, to Isle Au Haute which is part of Acadia NP. I had the wheel for the 4am to 6am watch. The evening before, the captain had set a waypoint for Isle Au Haute, and we steered to it through the night.

When I took the wheel at 4 am we were in thick fog, light wind, and 3 foot swell. [As an aside, one of the places I hoped we'd be able to see was Matinicus Rock, a small rocky island well offshore from the Maine Coast. Matinicus Rock is known for its bird colonies, and is the southernmost nesting area for the Atlantic Puffin. I really wanted to see puffins. During my turn at the wheel I kept wondering how close to Matinicus Rock our course would take us, but I never found the time to check the chart and determine its location.] I kept checking the sounder, and could track the sea depth gradually rise from 600 feet to just a couple hundred feet.

As dawn approached, I could begin to see the water around the boat, through the fog. The odd lobster buoy drifted past after we crossed the 100 foot curve. I started seeing sea birds, including some that were certainly puffins. I kept steering by GPS and compass bearing. I also relied on radar, which was new to me. I was tracking lobster boats at 1/2 to 1 mile range, and making sure we gave them a wide berth. Around 5:30 or so I spotted a target on the radar, that looked like the boats I'd been tracking. Our course line was heading right for the target, and as we neared I kept waiting for the darned boat to begin moving in one direction or another. Visibility through the fog was perhaps 150 feet at the time. At about 1/4 mile range I altered course to steer clear of the target. Just then I saw something white in the direction of the radar return. Turns out it was surf breaking on rocks. Our course line had brought us on a direct heading for Matinicus Rock. Fortunately there are no hazardous reefs or rocks on the southeast approach to Matinicus Rock, with deep water lying just off its southern and eastern shores. In selecting a waypoint for our crossing of the Gulf of Maine, with its thousands of square miles of empty water, we hadn't plotted it out to be certain there was nothing in the way. I roused the captain and crew, and we all enjoyed some spectacular bird watching on Matinicus Rock, including lots of puffins.

Lessons taken from this experience: Know your position, plot the entire course ahead of time to be certain there's nothing in the way, trust what you see on the radar, and stay alert.

[eric3a]

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[Zoran]

I sailed first year with paper charts only even without GPS and I loved it, than I got handheld and I loved it more, I used paper charts to read coordinates and plot the course on GPS and it made my crossings easier. Than I updated to a smaller chartplotter with a maps and love it a lot more. Now I have handheld as a backup together with paper charts. Than I purchased auto helm and connected it with a chart plotter and wow. what a difference. I love my electronics and in the same time I will always keep my paper charts with me. But I am also at the opinion that with electronics I feel much safer as I have live positioning with speed and course that I do not have to plot on paper (and it will still be approximate). Mind you I do some night sailing and at night or fog or rainy day waterproof chartplotter in cockpit beats the paper charts every time.

Zoran

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

That's one of the reasons I always do any route planning on the laptop. I can plan on a regional chart and then go into the detail charts and fine tune the waypoints for any obstacles. This let's me run through the whole route close up before it ever get's into my plotter. My route is instantly on all scale charts for review with no errors in moving it from one chart to the other. Once the route is good the waypoints go electronically from my laptop charting software to the plotter on an SD card. No human re-entering the waypoints in the plotter. I can always count on the route being correct and obstacle free.

As to the reliability of the GPS constellation some of you should learn a bit more. You don't track against a single satellite to begin with. The sun passes have absolutely no effect on your positioning accuracy as at any time your plotter is probably using 6 - 8 different birds to calculate the position. These days that position is being constantly corrected even more by the pair os WAAS satellites transmitting error corrections from an network of ground stations.

The military no longer has the option to turn on SA (selective availability) which was the intentional degrading of the signal to mess up the bad guys. Clinton ordered it turned off permanently in the 90's and all the new birds going up do not even have the capability of SA. The military has a completely separate set of frequenies and more accurate PRN codes than what our civilian recievers use. The constellation is now 31 satellites even though only 24 are needed for full world wide coverage. Europe is just starting to launch all their Galileo birds which will further supplement the constellation.

All aviation is headed to satellite based navigation as well. The FAA has a goal to eliminate nearly all ground based nav aids over the next decade and go to a completely space based navigation infrastructure. My companies business is to design and implement RNAV/RNP instrument flight procedures that allow commercial airliners to fly from takeoff to touchdown in instrument conditions with no need for any ground (or paper) based nav aids. We have been doing this for years in the US, Canada, China, Australia, and New Zealand.

We bring planes in zero visibility winding through Himalayan valleys to airports in China (Tibet) with GPS as the sole navigation reference. We provide access where there had been none. The planes path is more precise than any other navigation technology making it safer. Our routes are shorter and have more efficient flight profiles than is possible with the dot to dot ground nav way of flying. This not only saves money but it also saves a considerable amount of fuel and let's the planes fly less disruptive quieter routes. These more precise routes also greatly increase airspace capacity. All these benefits are possible because we leverage the advanced avionics in todays planes and the GPS constellations navigation accuracy and reliability. The next generation goes even beyond this as we are combining this precise trajectory control with time so not only does the plane fly to a specific point, it arrives there at precisely the time you want it to, all flown on autopilot by the flight management computer.

GPS navigation is not a convienience on the sea or the air. It is the core technology that is being used to solve navigation and capacity problems today and in the future.

[bastonjock]

well said duane,guess you know a bit about the subject

i am currently doing the RYA day skipper course,ive been learning the ancient art of navigation using charts ,compass,deviders and plotter,so i know what you guys call a course to steer and ded reconing is all about,my current lesson is on GPS and Xtrac error etc.

I have a hand held GPS that i use as a backup,its a museum piece by todays standard,must be 7 years old a garman 75,i also have a navman chartplotter and will soon have an electronic set for my laptop.

One thing that i find that the electronic stuff can not do is to fulfill my imagineation.

Standing there over my kitchen table with the paper chart laid out,dividers and plotter in hand iit feels more like real planning,following over your proposed ground track,looking for any hazzards etc i enjoy it.

perhaps the new Admiralty electronic charts will free up more space,the laptop hopefully will take away the requirement for a large work area.

then after you have it all planned,dowload it into your chartplotter on the steering consul and away you go,keeping a set of paper charts as a backup is also wise,what happens when terrorists get their hands on some sort of EMP weapon? in the not to distant future

and chinnook,if its puffins you want to see,take a trip to St Kilda,another rock the sticks out of the atlantic.

[eric3a]

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[eric3a]

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[Chinook]

I think one's comfort level when it comes to new technology is, at least in part, a function of your generation. My grandfather (1896-1962) never got a drivers license, and never parked a car in his garage. Bicycle, street car and train served him fine. My dad, born in 1925 loves the car, has driven all 50 states, and the day he can't renew his drivers license will be truly tragic. However, he steadfastly refuses to get a computer and e'mail, had trouble for a long time with TV remotes, and took forever before he got an answering machine and a cell phone. As for me (b. 1947), we bought our first computer around 1988, for the benefit of kids in school. They took to it like ducks to water, but I hardly touched the thing. I didn't have one on my desk until 1995 - wrote all my correspondence and reports longhand for typing by secretary until then. I've since developed a working relationship with the darned things, but cuss them, they still conspire to frustrate and infuriate me on a regular basis. Thank goodness one son is an aviation electronics specialist in the Navy, the other is an electronic engineer and firmware designer, and my wife knows a whole lot more than me. All this leads me to my relationship with my GPS. I truly appreciate the thing and am amazed with what it can do, but I just can't get over my love of the venerable paper chart.

[Divecoz]

but I just can't get over my love of the venerable paper chart.

Like books and many other things that you hold in your hand . You feel the weight and the balance of the item. It may have a leather wrap or a certain feel or smell to it . AND its what your accustomed to.
Remotely like my 4x4. Its all automatic now , or the twist of a switch. But reaching down and grabbing the shifter for the transfer case. . . . Just had a different feel about it.
I would know if it was in or out , in high or in low .
Maybe that's what all the hullabaloo is about with sailing with a wheel and all the electric this and that's and windless and hydraulic and all the rest?

[KayakDan]

I love using GPS on my boat,but I would never sail without paper charts. That little screen has lots of info,but you just can't get "the big picture" on a little screen.
When I'm sailing,I'm always thinking several miles ahead of where I am. I want to know what's coming,and would rather have no surprises. Maine,in particular,is a place where this comes in handy. There is no straight"plumb line" from here to there in Maine.everything is tidal and currents and ledges in the most unexpected places.
I just always want to have the 20 mile view available to plan ahead,and only a paper chart can do that. My paper chart is always on the seat where I can glance at it,even though I am navigating by GPS.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Eric,

There are approach plates for every procedure and they can be in paper form but more often airlines are choosing to use electronic flight bags in the cockpit as it is just so darn expensive to keep all that paper current. The same issue I have with constantly buying paper charts.

In the aviation world flight procedure data in the FMS is updated every 28 days. Any interim changes are handled via NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) postings in real time.

Certainly all the planes have backup capabilities on board but for many of the locations our customers fly there are not any ground based alternatives due to limitations with the ground based technolgies. The classic example is Juneau Alaska. Due to a mountain off the east end of the runway there is only ILS off the west end. ILS is 1930's tech that is only straight line yet is still the primary commercial carrier landing technology in use today. It cannot be used if obstacles exist off a runway end. If the wind was from the west and conditions were instrument only you couldn't land there. RNP allows curved paths so it was easy to bring the plane in just a bit to the south over the water and then make a gentle turn to line up for the final once past the mountain. This is what a pilot would do in visual conditions and now the autopilot could do the same in instrument conditions. Now the airline no longer has to deal with an endless number of diversions due to weather.

http://www.naverus.com/Case_Studies/Wor ... eau_AK.htm

While today's transport category aircraft can actually coast for quite a while on IRS (Inertial reference systems) the most common crew procedure is to execute a missed approach if GPS (ANP) is lost during the procedure. For many of our customers GPS availability is a requirement to operate to a given airport in certain weather conditions. In some of the China airports (unlike our radio infrastructure rich US enviroment) GPS is the only way to even get there. One of the airports we did procedures for was finished and dedicated in April 2006 and sat unused until July when the first validation flight of our procedures was done. Our test flight put the first tire marks on the many million dollar runway.

http://www.naverus.com/Case_Studies/Acc ... Linzhi.htm

GPS is the sole navigation method in these places. There is no backup way in.

I must admit I pay little attention to the Coast Guard equivilant of the NOTAM or to chart updates. Every so often I will pull a chart set from NOAA getting the most recent on my laptop. The chart chip in my plotter is now 2+ years old and probably is missing some details like the new marina in Everett, etc. Even so the land is still the land and the rocks still the rocks. Perhaps it is the nature of the Puget Sound area with deep water and well defined shorelines that don't shift around, but I have never found an issue here with my charts being out of date. To be honest as out of date as they are my electronic copies are still newer than any of the paper I have on board. I haven't bought paper charts in many years.

That's why even though the plane can fly itself from takeoff to touchdown on autopilot, there are still two humans up front doing pilot stuff when the need arises. The same is true for my boat, the ultimate measure of safety on board has nothing to do with the tools used, it has everything to do with how the captain uses them.

Dan,

Perhaps it is my 7" wide screen plotter but I have no issues at all seeing what is ahead and I dare say Puget Sound is every bit as difficult of an area as Maine. It's rare to go anywhere that isn't affected by some current which at their peaks can top 8 knots. Our tidal change is over 14' much of the time. I will often drag the boat to one corner or side of the screen making a large area ahead in the direction of travel visible. At a nice level of detail this will show me an hours or more range ahead. To see further is just one or two buttons presses and in a single press you are right back as you were.

Chinook and Divecoz,

Ninety percent of the books I have "read" recently have been books on tape (tape being figurative as the aren't on tape or CD but are digital files on my MP3 player). I guess it's all how comfortable you are with the ever changing pace of technology. The other day at dinner I suggested my wife trade her blackberry with my son's plain old cell phone as she isn't really using all the integrated email it provides. My son said he wouldn't have any real use for it as he doesn't even use email any more. Email has already been abandoned for the more instant communications of IM and SMS texting by the truely tech savy.

[Chinook]

Did someone mention blackberries? I really don't care for blackberries. Taste is bland, vines too thorny. I much prefer huckleberries.