DIY chart plotter....

[mrmarshall]

Shelling out hundreds of dollars for a GPS chart plotter for my tin boat is out of the question but I wanted some way to get close to certain way points on local waters here. Here's the setup:

Windows XP Laptop: Already have it
Navionics Hotmaps Explorer $12.00
Fugawi Hotmaps Google Earth Plugin: Free
Google Earth: Free
Delorme GPS receiver. $25.00

With Hotmaps and the Google earth plugin you can see side by side images of the Navionics map and Google earth satellite views. Then, you can set way points on the Hotmaps window. You can't navigate in Hotmaps so I exported the way points in .kml format to Google Earth. Within Google Earth you can navigate with real-time GPS. To do this offline you need to view the area you will be navigating so Google Earth can store the satellite images on your disk drive.

I have it all setup now but haven't tried it on the water. I'll report back when I try it out.

 

[russ010]

yep ... this is an AWESOME advantage to guys who don't have side imaging sonor or GPS. This is how I started off (google earth) and actually it's still all I ever use.

I've since gotten a Humminbird with GPS, and you're supposed to be able to link it to google earth with H'birds software... but I haven't got mine to sync right yet.

Good tips man, I'm gonna have to try out these other plugins you mentioned.

 

[bAcKpAiN]

Shelling out hundreds of dollars for a GPS chart plotter for my tin boat is out of the question but I wanted some way to get close to certain way points on local waters here. Here's the setup:

Windows XP Laptop: Already have it
Navionics Hotmaps Explorer $12.00
Fugawi Hotmaps Google Earth Plugin: Free
Google Earth: Free
Delorme GPS receiver. $25.00

With Hotmaps and the Google earth plugin you can see side by side images of the Navionics map and Google earth satellite views. Then, you can set way points on the Hotmaps window. You can't navigate in Hotmaps so I exported the way points in .kml format to Google Earth. Within Google Earth you can navigate with real-time GPS. To do this offline you need to view the area you will be navigating so Google Earth can store the satellite images on your disk drive.

I have it all setup now but haven't tried it on the water. I'll report back when I try it out.

I thought about that myself before shelling out a few hundred dollars for a GPS/FF combo. The more I thought about my laptop on the boat, on the water, in the weather, around fish..... the more I saw how expensive it could be real fast. Good old Murphy's law would dictate my laptop would get splashed at best, or take a swim with the fishies at worst. My laptop is far more valuable to me for other purposes to risk it like that. I feltsaving up to get a gps was the best way to go. It took me a year, but I got it and my laptop is still safe. But, good luck! I hope it works great for you. I however, would advise against it. Home/office electronics and water are not a good combination.

 

[lswoody]

If all you are needing to do is mark a spot, a cheap hand held gps can be bought new for under $100 and you can sometimes get a used one with more features for less than that.. i use mine for both fishing and finding my hunting stands in the dark.