Garmin to C-Map? Is it possible?

[Oldrig]

This is a question for the many computer-savvy members of this board:

On Friday I purchased a chartplotter, namely a Standard Horizon CP190i with the C-Map chip for the eastern waters of North America.

Until now, I've been using a little black-and-white Garmin GPSMap76 handheld, which I hardwired to my batteries. I primarily used the little Garmin to keep track of my SOG and tracks run. But I also have loaded a fairly large number of waypoints onto the machine over the years.

Now that I've got this new unit (scheduled to arrive by UPS this week), I was wondering if there were any way to transfer my routes and waypoints from the Garmin system to the C-Map-based system.

I recently downloaded freeware called GPSBabel, which seems to be able to translate C-Map to Garmin, but I'm not sure it works in reverse.

It looks like I'll either have to input my routes and waypoints manually into the new unit, which I'll have to wire into the boat, or I'll have to spend $180 for the Jeppesen PC-Planner, which also has a C-Map input card and card reader, before I can do anything else.

Any suggestions?

Oh, please try to put your responses in very simple terms. I am NOT a programmer.

Thanks,

--Joe

[tomwatt]

It may not exactly apply, but over-the-road Garmin waypoints and locations can be exported as an Excel file and the info transferred, although I don't know about your new incoming outfit.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7761098_transfer-garmin-waypoints.html
provides a quick summary... there are whole websites devoted to libraries of exported waypoints, etc.

[Captain Smollett]

It looks like I'll either have to input my routes and waypoints manually into the new unit, which I'll have to wire into the boat, or I'll have to spend $180 for the Jeppesen PC-Planner, which also has a C-Map input card and card reader, before I can do anything else.

Any suggestions?

Joe, it seems to me that these are your only two options.

The issue is not necessarily the data format (which GPSBabel is translating), but that the communication protocol between the C-Map card itself looks proprietary.

To upload waypoints to the Garmin from SeaClear II for example, we have to use the Garmin proprietary protocol (an option with SeaClear).  I do not know if SeaClear has such an option for the SH chartplotter, and it does not look as though the plotter allows any inputs other than NMEA anyway.

That the C-Map manufacturer sells PC software for doing the interfacing indicates to me that that's pretty much the only way to do it.  They are keeping their communications locked down.  That's not to say that someone has not cracked it, but in my cursory search, I could not find a reference to any non-Jeppesen data connection.

Getting the data FROM the Garmin is a piece of cake, and there are multiple solutions for doing that.  It's going the other way that's the issue.

[Oldrig]

Getting the data FROM the Garmin is a piece of cake, and there are multiple solutions for doing that.  It's going the other way that's the issue.

John,

That's what I feared. I could, of course, cancel shipment of the S-H unit, purchased at a good discount at Defender's annual sale, and look for an equivalent Garmin unit. The initial cost would be more, but I've already got the computer cable and the software.

When I factor the Jeppesen (Boeing) software package into the equation ($180), I'm probably paying more for this S-H plotter than the equivalent Garmin.

Still, this plotter is very user-friendly, and the quality of the C-Map charts is great.

Has anybody had experience with S-H plotters?

--Joe

[Captain Smollett]

When I factor the Jeppesen (Boeing) software package into the equation ($180), I'm probably paying more for this S-H plotter than the equivalent Garmin.

Still, this plotter is very user-friendly, and the quality of the C-Map charts is great.

I think I'd just bite the bullet and enter them manually.  A few each day or spend some time at anchor with it, that sort of thing.  You should be able to get 12V power to it at your house if need be (or at least off the boat).

I guess the big question is how often do you think you'd need to interface the unit with the computer?  Is this something you'd do with regularity?

If so, either buy the software or look into the possibility of a different unit.  If not, don't worry about it.  Take the KISS-ey trade-off and do the manual work the once in a blue moon you need to.

Pretty much all you are talking about is getting waypoints/routes from the computer to the unit, right?

My two cents...

[jpfx]

have a look at gps utility, it might help.
http://www.gpsu.co.uk/index.html

[Oldrig]

have a look at gps utility, it might help.
http://www.gpsu.co.uk/index.html

Thanks, JPFX.

Otherwise, I'll probably print out my Garmin waypoints as a list (easily done) and input them during down time, as Smollett suggested.

I do like to plan trips using my computer. The real problem is that I'm one of the last people on earth who uses a desktop computer--and it's at my home, which is 85 miles from the boat.

For my freelance editing work, I use an old version of Maptech's Offshore Navigator software, which allows me to download the latest NOAA raster charts. I can enter waypoints on this program, too. The problem is trying to input them into the new unit. The Jeppesen software comes with a proprietary card reader, and a blank card (also proprietary).

This British software looks promising, but I'd still need that card reader and card.

Arrrgh. Maybe I should stick to my old Garmin handheld and paper charts. But Garmin no longer supports that unit, and my eyes ain't what they used to be.

We'll see.

--Joe

[Captain Smollett]

input them during down time

;D

I have only one time entered a "route" into my GPS for the purpose of following it waypoint to waypoint.

I entered the waypoints by hand while sitting aground for several hours.

I ended up not even using the GPS that way - I may not have even had it on - but, it gave me something to do while waiting for the tide to come back in.

;D

(The route for was for the Cape Fear River. I had done the Cape Fear previously, but it is sufficiently tricky and I thought I might be mighty tired by the time I got there.  I figured why not go with "belt-n-suspenders" and have a back-up plan to double check my navigation.

Turns out I stopped for a nap before I got there, and ran the river well rested.)