Auto Chart, Auto Chart Pro & Auto Chart Live Information Resource

[Wayne P.]

Hi, I just got my 2 Helix 9 G3N's set up and I have mapped most of my local lake which is not on LakeMaster. I've gotten my 2nd Zerolines card in yesterday. Can someone point me to instructions on how to copy the data from the 1st card to the second one for identical map overlays for both units, please? I've been reading for hours and have not come across anything that explains how to duplicate the data to a 2nd Zerolines card.

Put the new card in your computer and look at the files listed.
Then put the old card in your computer and look at the files listed.
Copy the extra file that the old card has and paste it to the new card.

[Lake Pirate]

Yes sir, I can copy the ACU files over to the 2nd card and get identical charting data and update that as I go. What I can't seem to do is get is get identical Autochart overlays under the Overlay Options & Base Layer option. If I copy and paste the AC or ACData folder it crashes the Humminbird unit. When I try to update data in Autochart Pro with the 2nd card inserted it crashes the ACP PC program. I've found some discussion on this from 2016 from CamoHunter that suggests updating using the local copy option but this hasn't worked either because when I copy the Zerolines card to my PC and point ACP to the directory and map an area the update local copy button is greyed out.

I do appreciate your response. I'll keep working at it as I'm sure there has to be a way to duplicate the card for used on dual units.

[Lake Pirate]

Update: Got it working. 3 different Zerolines cards, all 3 have the same ACU files with Map & Base Overlay working. CamoHunter was right. It has to be done via local update to a separate folder for each card. That part I had to figure out.
ACZL_1.jpg
20200105_155356.jpg
ACZL_5.jpg
ACZL_5.jpg

[CamoHunter]

Looks like you've got a nice map created there Lake Pirate! Always fun to see the fruits of your labor come together into an awesome map! Good work!

[cdcslot]

Hello friends. I live in Brazil .... There are no maps for humminbird here.How do I create maps through google earth?do i need to buy autochart pro? I saw you only have for north america.Thank you for your help.
Hello friends. I live in Brazil .... There are no maps for humminbird here.How do I create maps through google earth?do i need to buy autochart pro? I saw you only have for north america.Thank you for your help.

[Wayne P.]

Hello friends. I live in Brazil .... There are no maps for humminbird here.How do I create maps through google earth?do i need to buy autochart pro? I saw you only have for north america.Thank you for your help.
Hello friends. I live in Brazil .... There are no maps for humminbird here.How do I create maps through google earth?do i need to buy autochart pro? I saw you only have for north america.Thank you for your help.

The above maps were done with current Humminbird units that have built-in Auto Chart Live.

You can use the computer software Auto Chart or Auto Chart Pro to process the same data so the maps are not overlays but regular Lakemaster type lakes.

[cdcslot]

Eu tenho uma hélice humixbir 10 gen3.

1- Eu tenho que comprar o autochart pro?

2- posso passar a imagem do google earth para o autochart pro? logo depois de escrever em um cartão SD e usá-lo no humminbird?

Essa é a ordem correta que devo fazer?

[Stainless69]

What did you ever discover on this? I'm about to start crappie season spider rigging and I figured that would be a great time to map the areas I'm fishing since I'll be trolling around. I am also curious if when you offset to fit your current pool level to record, that it will also adjust your current recording as well? I would hate to go out at three different pool levels recording and it be different each time. Then the offset would be inaccurate between the areas.

Hello, I searched the thread but could not find a definitive answer to my problem. Hence I would need some advice regarding mapping with Autochart Live and changing water levels in particular. I use to fish on a reservoir (hydro dam) used for flood control where water levels change a lot over the year. Typically, the reservoir level is highest in early spring and than continually goes down during the fishing period.

There are no commercial maps available for this lake. Thus I have to rely on Autochart Live mapping but have to deal with the changing water levels. The surface is roughly 2,000 acres, so no chance to get mapping done without changes of water level in the meantime.

My initial approach was to define a reference level (full pool) and set the delta between current water level and this reference level as water level offset in my Helix 9 G3N every time before recording starts. I hoped that the control head would take this offset into account when recording the data so that the whole autochart live map could later be easily shifted towards a different water level offset without any frictions. However, this doesn't seem to work as expected. To me it seems as if the defined water level offset is only taken into account for generating the autochart live map from recorded data, but not to adjust freshly recorded data itself to the reference level. Some days ago, for example, I made a custom map for a new portion of my lake. Water level offset was set to -8 ft which corresponds with the current level compared to my self-defined reference point. Actual depth displayed on the sonar was 15ft, but the generated Autochart Live Map only showed 7ft. I found that the map is only displayed correctly if I set the water level offset to 0. Leaving the water level offset at -8 ft - as it was during the recording - results in a map where all displayed depths are 8 feet less than the the actual depth. To me that seems to imply that all recorded data assumes a water level offset of 0.

Can you confirm that this is the normal and intended behaviour with Autochart Live? That would mean that water level offset could be used to adjust data which was recorded at one unchanged water level to a later change, but merging of recordings which were recorded at different water levels was more or less impossible. (at least without using Autochart Pro desktop software) I cannot really believe this is intended because taking into account the setpoint for the water level offset while recording new Autochart Live data would be very easy from an algorithmic perspective.

Best regards,

Christoph

[SLYDoggie]

What did you ever discover on this? I'm about to start crappie season spider rigging and I figured that would be a great time to map the areas I'm fishing since I'll be trolling around. I am also curious if when you offset to fit your current pool level to record, that it will also adjust your current recording as well? I would hate to go out at three different pool levels recording and it be different each time. Then the offset would be inaccurate between the areas.

I think the preferred way for situations like this is to go out to a specified contour line (preferably in an area without rapidly changing contours) and then dial in your offset until the depth reading on your unit matches the contour depth. You could actually use the offset and the lake level (if there is a published lake level) to determine what the reference level is and use that going forward.

[ClaytonSchick]

Has anyone ever had issues after they have put their ACU files onto AutoChart Pro and then exported them back to AutoChart Live files after you have edited them? For some reason now the files that I have exported back to ACU from ACD I will get an error trying to put them back into AutoChart Pro again. Error is "Attempted to access an unnammed file past its end"
Help?
Thank you....

[Fins]

For Ultrex/Terrova/Ulterra follow the contour, can you use straight autochart live or does it need to be processed by the Autochart/Autochart Pro app to make it a Lakemaster format?

[granite]

AutoChart Live works just fine for FTC, as long as you're not in an area where the contour lines stack right on top of each other (steep drop), which is also an issue with LM chips. It'll just drop out in that situation. In that case I will record a track if it's an area I really want to fish.

[SLYDoggie]

Since there is not a Lakemaster High Definition Map for the lake I fish, I have created my own AutoChart Live contours for the areas I fish. I'm wondering if there is a way to update the "basemap" which is on the ZeroLines Card as it only shows a very low resolution outline of the lake with no contours. The updated Solix Basemap actually is pretty decent but I always have to go into the settings after startup and reselect the Huminbird "Basemap" since it defaults to Humminbird "Chart Card". I would love to have a better basemap on the chart card so I don't have to do the extra steps to select the Humminbird "Basemap".

Also, I have downloaded the lake shoreline reference information from the LiveShare site and it is much better than the shoreline reference information supplied on the ZeroLines card. The shoreline reference information on the ZeroLines card had some issues which caused the AutoChart Live data to look "wonky" in certain areas. After downloading the shoreline reference data from the LiveShare sight, I no longer have those issues.

It would be nice to be able to also download the updated basemap information for a specific lake like you can do on the shoreline reference.

[CamoHunter]

SLYDoggie,
I'm not sure I understand your question. I think what you're wanting to do is create a custom shoreline for your AutoChart Live maps, is that right? I don't know of any way to do that, other than using the AutoChart pc computer software as the middle ground to do so. It is absolutely possible with the pc software though.

[CamoHunter]

Has anyone ever had issues after they have put their ACU files onto AutoChart Pro and then exported them back to AutoChart Live files after you have edited them? For some reason now the files that I have exported back to ACU from ACD I will get an error trying to put them back into AutoChart Pro again. Error is "Attempted to access an unnammed file past its end"
Help?
Thank you....

Hey Clayton, trying to figure out your issue and how you got there.
1. You imported AutoChart Live files (ACU) into AutoChart Pro, AutoChart Pro converts those files to AutoChart Pro file type (ACD).
2. You edited those ACD files in AutoChart Pro.
3. You then export those edited ACD files back to ACU for use with AutoChart Live again.
4. Then, when you try to import those ACU files that you exported in step 3, back into AutoChart Pro, you get the error message "Attempted to access an unnammed file past its end" within AutoChart Pro.

Am I understanding your process correctly? If that's right, I can try to duplicate it with some of my ACU files and see if I get the same error message, and a way to avoid it.

[SLYDoggie]

SLYDoggie,
I'm not sure I understand your question. I think what you're wanting to do is create a custom shoreline for your AutoChart Live maps, is that right? I don't know of any way to do that, other than using the AutoChart pc computer software as the middle ground to do so. It is absolutely possible with the pc software though.

The shoreline reference on LiveShare is plenty good. What I'm looking for is the ability to have a base map on the card which includes a set of contour lines. For the lake I fish, unless you manually select the Humminbird Basemap (rather than the "chart card") all you get is a body of water with no features and a rudimentary outline of the lake. I would like to have the Zero Lines chart card itself to have the underwater topology for use in following to create my own maps without getting myself into shallow water danger zones.

[CamoHunter]

So you're saying the Humminbird Basemap shows more underwater island/shallow spots than your AC ZeroLines chart card? You're saying the ZeroLines card only shows shoreline and water, correct?
If it doesn't already show the islands, then the answer is no. The only way to add islands or mark potential shallow spots, would be to manually create your own shorelines in the Autochart program on a computer. Or manually change the background map to Humminbird Basemap like you've been doing, and have AutoChart Live data displayed as an overlay over the basemap. Or create waypoints for those potentially shallow/hazardous spots for your awareness when mapping (could be done by looking on Google Earth, or your Humminbird Basemap if you're confident in that).

[SLYDoggie]

So you're saying the Humminbird Basemap shows more underwater island/shallow spots than your AC ZeroLines chart card? You're saying the ZeroLines card only shows shoreline and water, correct?
If it doesn't already show the islands, then the answer is no. The only way to add islands or mark potential shallow spots, would be to manually create your own shorelines in the Autochart program on a computer. Or manually change the background map to Humminbird Basemap like you've been doing, and have AutoChart Live data displayed as an overlay over the basemap. Or create waypoints for those potentially shallow/hazardous spots for your awareness when mapping (could be done by looking on Google Earth, or your Humminbird Basemap if you're confident in that).

Let me start over. The basemap that comes with the Solix has pretty decent contour lines but the "base map" that comes with the zero lines card has zero contour lines. It's not about the shoreline reference, it's about the contour lines. As I'm doing my mapping, I use the Solix Basemap contours to follow specific underwater topology. If I just use the zero lines card, it is just an image that shows land and water but zero contour lines... obviously, except the mapping I have done myself, which is considerable.

Since the Solix defaults to the zero lines card as your map, if you have it installed, I go into my Chart settings each time I boot the Solix and change it from "chart card" to "basemap".

[CamoHunter]

Okay, I understand now. No, there is no way to update the basemap on the AutoChart Zerolines card, to get it to look like your Solix basemap with contour lines.

[SLYDoggie]

Okay, I understand now. No, there is no way to update the basemap on the AutoChart Zerolines card, to get it to look like your Solix basemap with contour lines.

Thanks. I assumed that was the case but it was worth asking this group.