Team Colibri
Well-known member
A few others on this forum have posted that they are less then happy with the depthcharts available through commercial channels. I thought I would share a little project of mine with you, from a part of the world where digital depthcharts hardly exists at all.
I started thinking about making my own depthcharts in 2012. I spent a lot of time during the wintermonths researching my options, both for hardware, software and the theory behind making charts. I found a few fellow "chartmakers" in the process, and today quite a few of us work on mapping lakes and waterways, and share our data and charts. The idea is simple, having as many people as possible contributing depthdata from their fishfinders, and then combining that data to make maps for all of us to use.
There are several different versions of software on the marked that can be used, I'll mention a few:
- Reefmaster
- Insight Genesis
- Lakemaster Autochart (formerly Dr Depth)
All are ment for the unexperienced user. There are several profesionell softwaretools available as well, but they are expencive and can be quite complicated to use without training. I use Reefmaster, but have some experience with Dr Depth and Insight Genesis as well. The main reasons for choosing Reefmaster where price, beeing able to use data from and creating charts to different brands of fishfinders/ chartplotters and the fact that the program is downloadable so you own all your data and the finishen maps.
In order to use these softwaretools, you need data that includes depth and a GPS-fix. This can be collected using a wide array of brands and models of fishfinders, that have two features in common:
- GPS (usually means it is a combined fisfinder and chartplotter, although there are other options as well)
- Saving data to a memory card (usually in the form of an SD or Micro SD card)
Quite a few units can be hardwired to a PC as well, but we will skip this for now.
When the software and hardware is in place, the next step is to go out on the water an collect data. This can be done simply by collecting data when fishing and cruising around as you usually do, or by running your boat in a pattern to make sure all of the lake is mapped up. I use a combination of the two.
When returning from your fishingtrip, you save the data from the fishfinder onto your memorycard, put the memorycard into your PC and let the mapping-software chew on it. You then export your finished depthchart back to the memorycard, and voila, you have a depthchart of "your lake" in your chartplotter.
A few screenshots from my own Lowrance HDS-units of maps I have made:
Bottom line: There are ways to get depthcharts of your favourite lakes and waterways, without buying it from LakeMaster/ Navionics and such. DIY!
I started thinking about making my own depthcharts in 2012. I spent a lot of time during the wintermonths researching my options, both for hardware, software and the theory behind making charts. I found a few fellow "chartmakers" in the process, and today quite a few of us work on mapping lakes and waterways, and share our data and charts. The idea is simple, having as many people as possible contributing depthdata from their fishfinders, and then combining that data to make maps for all of us to use.
There are several different versions of software on the marked that can be used, I'll mention a few:
- Reefmaster
- Insight Genesis
- Lakemaster Autochart (formerly Dr Depth)
All are ment for the unexperienced user. There are several profesionell softwaretools available as well, but they are expencive and can be quite complicated to use without training. I use Reefmaster, but have some experience with Dr Depth and Insight Genesis as well. The main reasons for choosing Reefmaster where price, beeing able to use data from and creating charts to different brands of fishfinders/ chartplotters and the fact that the program is downloadable so you own all your data and the finishen maps.
In order to use these softwaretools, you need data that includes depth and a GPS-fix. This can be collected using a wide array of brands and models of fishfinders, that have two features in common:
- GPS (usually means it is a combined fisfinder and chartplotter, although there are other options as well)
- Saving data to a memory card (usually in the form of an SD or Micro SD card)
Quite a few units can be hardwired to a PC as well, but we will skip this for now.
When the software and hardware is in place, the next step is to go out on the water an collect data. This can be done simply by collecting data when fishing and cruising around as you usually do, or by running your boat in a pattern to make sure all of the lake is mapped up. I use a combination of the two.
When returning from your fishingtrip, you save the data from the fishfinder onto your memorycard, put the memorycard into your PC and let the mapping-software chew on it. You then export your finished depthchart back to the memorycard, and voila, you have a depthchart of "your lake" in your chartplotter.
A few screenshots from my own Lowrance HDS-units of maps I have made:
Bottom line: There are ways to get depthcharts of your favourite lakes and waterways, without buying it from LakeMaster/ Navionics and such. DIY!