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

[rnvinc]

Will AutoChart Live (saved data in the Onix 8hr memory) work with Smartstrike ...??

Will AutoChart Live (saved data direct to the Zero Line Card) work with Smartstrike ...??

Rickie

[fisher12]

Will AutoChart Live (saved data in the Onix 8hr memory) work with Smartstrike ...??

Will AutoChart Live (saved data direct to the Zero Line Card) work with Smartstrike ...??

Rickie

I like to no the answer to Rickies' question also.I would like to expand his question and ask,with the Onix autocharts (saved internal memory, data) can shallow water offset and depth highlight be used?
What's being asked is,can all ,some or none of this be done,without the lake master card be present?

[lancepeterson]

Great Resource Guys! I have been playing with the AutoChart Pro software for a week or so and am ready to start loading track/recording data. It looks like the amount of data could get a bit disorganized and confusing without a plan of attack. How would you guys would break down a river system like the Missouri River? I fish a 30 mile stretch or so that has no shoreline data, so I planned on needing to use CamoHunter's shoreline data walkthrough. I was planning on breaking the river up into 6 mile sections/folders that correspond to dock locations that fall at that interval roughly. Or would I be better off sectioning of the river into smaller groups like river mile 123-125? Either way should I create single shoreline tracks for each section of river or multiple shoreline tracks/lakes in each section? Finally would I be better of creating multiple AC folders on the zero lines card for each river section or just dump all the Lakemaster data into the same AC folder, wasn't sure how easy it was to fill up a card?


Here are some resources I found useful for making your own satellite background maps for use in AutoChart Pro. I ended up using Google Earth and it worked out a lot better than the built in options.

http://www.allmapsoft.com/umd/ - This one basically does it all for you. Grabs image maps and creates the calibration file.

http://www.mgmaps.com/cache/ - This is old and buggy but works. It makes the all important .map file along with grabbing images. It will crash on higher zoom levels

http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/ - This is a nice program to take images created somewhere else and make a calibration file for it. Like old fishing maps, corps maps, etc.

NOTE: Services like Google Earth only allow like 10,000 image tiles downloaded in 24hrs. If you go above that you can get banned.

[SLYDoggie]

I like to no the answer to Rickies' question also.I would like to expand his question and ask,with the Onix autocharts (saved internal memory, data) can shallow water offset and depth highlight be used?
What's being asked is,can all ,some or none of this be done,without the lake master card be present?

The answer to this is that "YES" you can use shallow water highlight and depth range highlight without the AutoChart Live Zero Lines card. I was doing this before I got the card while I was just using the 8 hours of internal memory. Both the shallow water and depth range highlight work exactly the same with or without the card. I absolutely love the depth range highlight. When I am fishing for Stripers they tend to be holding at the same bottom depth on a given night. I can set the depth range highlight to that depth plus or minus 5 feet and I have a 10' depth range that is highlighted and I can just stay in that highlighted area to stay on the fish.

The 8 hour AutoChart Live internal recording limit just wasn't enough recording time for me so I bought the card... After all, isn't that what Humminbird wanted?

[CamoHunter]

Great Resource Guys! I have been playing with the AutoChart Pro software for a week or so and am ready to start loading track/recording data. It looks like the amount of data could get a bit disorganized and confusing without a plan of attack. How would you guys would break down a river system like the Missouri River? I fish a 30 mile stretch or so that has no shoreline data, so I planned on needing to use CamoHunter's shoreline data walkthrough. I was planning on breaking the river up into 6 mile sections/folders that correspond to dock locations that fall at that interval roughly. Or would I be better off sectioning of the river into smaller groups like river mile 123-125? Either way should I create single shoreline tracks for each section of river or multiple shoreline tracks/lakes in each section? Finally would I be better of creating multiple AC folders on the zero lines card for each river section or just dump all the Lakemaster data into the same AC folder, wasn't sure how easy it was to fill up a card?

The fact that you're thinking about the file organization of your project, is a good first step. I'm very familiar with your situation for the area, and the issues that will arise with trying to map the river. Several problems arise with trying to map a river, and you're onto the right track with dividing it up into sections. The biggest issues, are the the surface water level is contantly changing. Another issue, is that the river level is a gradient (i.e. the water surface below Gavin's dam might be 1234.0 ft, and several miles downstream it might be 1232.0ft, and further downstream be 1229.0ft). My suggestion would be to create new sonar recordings or tracks, sort of like you mentioned. In other words, separate the river into a number of sections. Identify where all the USGS & USACE stream gauges are that will help you with identifying water levels on the days you survey, and use those as a starting point to separate the river into sections. Then, like you mentioned, use other obvious points like boat ramps to be your other key areas.
For a river like the Missouri, I'd maybe separate it into 5 mile long sections, and organize your files that way.
But, name your folders so they are organized in order from upstream to downstream. Something like this: Missouri River 001 - Ft Randall to Greenwood; Missouri River 002 - Greenwood to Verdel, Missouri River 003 - Verdel to Niobrara, etc.
Although, I would divide that differently because of where the streamgauges are located. Ideally, you want those in the middle of your survey section so you have a known water level for that section.
Dividing it by river miles might be the best solution. If you want the river miles for the Missouri River, let me know. I've got it in Google Earth format.
I'll send you a PM with some more info.

[sfw1960]

Nice stuff Mike...

[CamoHunter]

Thanks. Rivers are a somewhat tricky to survey. Certainly, a person could just collect a bunch of data one day and hope for the best, and it would probably still turn out fine.
One just has to recognize that surveying rivers probably isn't going to turn out perfect, but 'good enough'.
Other issues with rivers, are that they narrow up and widen out in places. Causing more/less drastic water level changes in some areas. Probably best to just conquer one area at a time for best results.
Problem with rivers with dams above them, is that the water releases sometimes fluctuate quite a bit hour to hour. Meaning that just because you conducted a survey for an area all in one day, doesn't mean that the water level didn't change a fair amount from the time you started your survey to the time you completed it.

Another issue, river depths change over time as silt and sand are pushed around by river currents. Usually over a long time period though.

All of that being said, I've still had good luck just collecting depth data half-hazardly. Probably not the best approach, but I haven't really concentrated on an accurate river contour map yet.

[sfw1960]

I'll continue to collect hap-hard data for myself, I recently looked at one of my local lakes on the webapp of navionics and they are super fake...lol!

Islands missing, fingers not there...etc.
Glad I didn't go that route so far..................................

[CamoHunter]

I've seen that with a lot of the Navionics SonarCharts 'updated' maps. A lot of them are only 'updated' with interpolated contours between the existing low-res contours they had already. The only way those SonarCharts contours get updated with accurate data, is that you or someone else sends them their personal sonar logs. Until I see others posting their sonar surveys to Navionics for the lakes I'm interested in, why would I want to do a bunch of surveying on a lake, and then give it all away to Navionics?
I get the idea of sharing data, but if I'm the only one collecting data for a lake, I'm going to keep it to myself. If others start sharing, than I might reconsider. Until then, I'm not going to do a bunch of surveying, just to give it away to Navionics and help them sell more product.

[sfw1960]

Yep....Couldn't have said it any better Mike!

[Wayne P.]

I've seen that with a lot of the Navionics SonarCharts 'updated' maps. A lot of them are only 'updated' with interpolated contours between the existing low-res contours they had already. The only way those SonarCharts contours get updated with accurate data, is that you or someone else sends them their personal sonar logs. Until I see others posting their sonar surveys to Navionics for the lakes I'm interested in, why would I want to do a bunch of surveying on a lake, and then give it all away to Navionics?
I get the idea of sharing data, but if I'm the only one collecting data for a lake, I'm going to keep it to myself. If others start sharing, than I might reconsider. Until then, I'm not going to do a bunch of surveying, just to give it away to Navionics and help them sell more product.

I do Sonar Charts for me and to help others.

Navionics does not sell Sonar Charts, it is FREE with some of their products.

[sfw1960]

While there's surely nothing wrong with that, I know you're using Autochart Live as well.
I just know what I saw on the webapp & compared to what I visually can see either looking in the water or at one of the units, it was grossly off.
My buddy said it's not right - it just has more contour lines that are not right...

I know something is far better than nothing also (and I get that).
Personal preference I guess.

[chuck99z28]

Will Autochart work with the 855ci hd?

[Wayne P.]

Will Autochart work with the 855ci hd?

No, since there is no such model. But will in any of the 859 units, it's Lakemaster mapping software.

You record sonar logs with your unit to load to the Autochart computer software to create the contour map. Then load that to the Zeroline card to use in your unit.

[chuck99z28]

OOps, I mean 899CI HD.

But thanks for the response. Lakemaster mapping software and zeroline card. Got it.

[Grim Reaper]

I am running an Onix 10, the AutoChart Pro software ,and the Lakemaster Plus Western States map card.After making a custom map with AutoChart Pro and storing it on the Zero Lines memory card, is it possible to have the Onix display the Lakemaster maps everywhere I do not have a custom map, but have the custom map display as an overlay in areas where I have made custom maps.I would like to avoid constantly changing settings back and forth.Thanks!

[CamoHunter]

Navionics does not sell Sonar Charts, it is FREE with some of their products.

If by FREE, you mean it's included for the first 12 months with a $200 Navionics+ chip, and $100 per year after that for Freshest data. Wish they'd quit saying it's 'free'.

[CamoHunter]

I am running an Onix 10, the AutoChart Pro software ,and the Lakemaster Plus Western States map card.After making a custom map with AutoChart Pro and storing it on the Zero Lines memory card, is it possible to have the Onix display the Lakemaster maps everywhere I do not have a custom map, but have the custom map display as an overlay in areas where I have made custom maps.I would like to avoid constantly changing settings back and forth.Thanks!

Yes. You can select the Lakemaster map as the base layer, and your custom map as the overlay.

[Capw]

So I finally networked my 2 Onix's. I was hoping the Autochart Live maps would network also. Is this possible or have I not figured it out yet?

[Grim Reaper]

I must be doing something wrong, because I can't make that work. I have the Lakemaster card in Slot #1 and the Autochart Zero Lines card in slot #2. From the "Home Screen", under "Settings", "Chart", I have selected "Humminbird". From the Chart screen, after hitting "Menu", I have selected "Chart Options", "Map Data", "Base Layer", and "Default". After going back a couple of screens, I select "Map Overlay", then "Autochart" with Overlays "On" at 100%. Unfortunately, after all of that, only the Lakemaster data is visible; none of the custom map is visible. Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?