The Future of Chart Plotting
Author:
Allan Tarvid
While raster and vector formats describe fundamentally different
ways to convert paper charts into their electronic equivalents,
they couldn't be more co-dependent if they were joined at the hip.
Digital cartography's future is definitely sailing toward vector
charts, but now raster charts play a major role in the evolution.
Considering the speed at which this industry is evolving, however,
experts agree that in as little as a year, we will be using new
technology that we can't imagine right now.
Laptop Battery Cartographers make raster charts by scanning government-issue
paper charts and producing exact electronic copies of them. They
look like photographs of the original chart. Vector charts are
graphic representations of paper charts that look like a composite
of line drawings of the original document. The vector process
usually begins with a raster scan of an official NOAA paper chart.
The cartographer then identifies objects relevant to navigation,
classifies them and stores the information in a digital structure.
This information is stored in layers that allow different elements
to be hidden or made visible as desired. The coastline could be one
layer, depth contours another and spot depth soundings yet
another.
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Thinkpad Vector charts are almost intelligent in the way they can be
manipulated. Easily updated, details gathered from different
sources can be added to the layers, letting makers (and to some
extent users) customize them endlessly. For example, the new Ports
& Tides feature offered by C-MAP exemplifies the state of this
art. Place the cursor on a marina icon and click on it, and you can
see a description of all services offered, including the types of
fuel available, lodging, restaurants, and even an ATM machine if
one is on-site or nearby.
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Microsoft Marketing manager Cindy Russell says people come into her C-MAP
booth at shows, look around, and say something like, "Oh, you're
vector; you don't use NOAA charts," and walk out. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Russell says that vector charts by C-MAP
and its largest competitor, Navionics, all start with a raster scan
of an official NOAA chart. The companies then add more information
to it. Regardless of which layers of information you choose to view
or hide, official NOAA chart information guides you.
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Laptop Computers Simrad's John Caballero described zooming in on a raster chart
as being akin to placing a magnifying glass over a copy machine
duplicate of the original paper document. Everything appears larger
-- lines and letters look bigger and thicker -- but the level of
detail remains constant unless your chart-plotter
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Laptop Computer System can search its database and retrieve a more detailed
raster chart of the zoomed area. (Many of the more expensive
machines do just that.) Sometimes small imperfections like missing
pixels and fuzzy type exist in a raster image, and unfortunately,
like a blurry photo, they will also be magnified during
zooming.
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Desktop Computer On the positive side, some software companies have added
features to their raster-based products like information on tides
and currents and tools to manage navigation and routing more
easily. The basic chart remains the same, but these features make
the system more comprehensive and easier to use.
Notebooks Caballero says zooming in on a vector chart is completely
different. Since you're seeing a constructed digital model instead
of a digital copy, you get precise detail at all zoom levels. When
you zoom in and out, you're actually reconstructing the displayed
data to get a precise new chart for each scale you select. The
vector system automatically adds layers of additional information
that become relevant as you view a smaller area. Unnecessary layers
can be turned off and hidden if the screen becomes too cluttered.
Caballero cited a favorite fishing area off Key Largo as an
example. The full vector chart includes spot soundings, depth
lines, buoys, markers, names of restaurants and other details. If
all these layers are turned on, they overwhelm important details.
So he must turn off layers of information to clean up the
chart.
Lenovo The Great Controversy
Hard Drive A controversy exists in the electronic charting community.
According to Tim Sullivan, marketing manager for MapTech (one of
the major raster cartography companies), the lack of a standardized
vector format has handicapped the merging of all vector databases
into a common platform that could be distributed and maintained
internationally. This is one of the main stumbling blocks that has
kept electronic charting from being considered a legal alternative
to paper charts. Within the last few years, such a common platform
(called S-57) has been internationally accepted and has provided
this missing link.
Travelstar MapTech won a recent Cooperative Research and Development
Agreement (CRADA) from NOAA to produce and market vector charts (it
was a raster company, remember) that will be recognized as the
equivalent of paper charts. C-MAP and Navionics, the world's two
largest producers of vector charts, also petitioned for the CRADA.
Though MapTech is a fine company and perfectly capable, its CRADA
has been appealed. Some (especially C-MAP and Navionics) wonder why
the government decided to waste money by hiring MapTech to do
vector conversions that C-MAP and Navionics have already done, not
to mention why it chose a company with only raster experience to do
vector charts.
Gateway When I asked Sullivan for his view, he went back a few years to
begin.
Laptop Parts "A company called BSB petitioned the government for and won a
CRADA in 1995 to produce and distribute digital versions of paper
charts," he says. "NOAA sent digital images of charts to BSB, who
warped them as necessary to calibrate them with lat/long
coordinates and put them on CD-ROMS. The raster chart CDs were
packaged and marketed through an existing dealer network that was
already handling paper chart kits. We (MapTech) acquired BSB in
December of 1997 and inherited the CRADA and many of the workers
who had been fulfilling it."
Software While the company's expertise has been in raster charts,
Sullivan feels that the teams who have worked together to provide a
good raster product for NOAA will be able to turn out vector
products of the same quality.
Hard Drives Now that the new standard calls for vector charts, Sullivan says
NOAA is going further than just basing them on its own current
paper charts -- those same charts upon which existing vector charts
are based. "NOAA's going back to source data, including information
from engineering work, harbor blueprints and any additional data
from survey vessels that may be available," he says. "NOAA will
supply this new source data, which will then be cross-referenced to
build new, original S-57 vector charts." Sullivan says plans call
for the new data to cover about 80 of the most popular ports in the
U.S. (not necessarily ports important to recreational boating).
Electronics Internationally, the new electronic charts will eventually be
required as part of the automated vessel information system on
large commercial vessels entering U.S. waters.
Canon Sullivan admits that these new charts are being developed
primarily as commercial products, but they'll undoubtedly trickle
down to the recreational market. MapTech also expects to produce
developers kits similar to those now offered for its raster
products in order to help software and hardware makers (who must
license the cartography from MapTech) include these new charts into
their products.
Desktop Pc In the meantime, the "raster vs. vector" controversy will be
resolved, hopefully in a way that is fair to all parties, including
the good companies involved and the taxpayers footing the bill.
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