GL: Charts Again

[Bob McLeran]

Run a chart program on a computer (laptop or desktop), get the charts 
for the US free online, and pay for the foreign charts you actually 
need! Don't have a URL to provide which discusses alternatives to 
proprietary software from Garmin, etc, but I'm sure there are many out 
there.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young                  Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling                               Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler                          Melbourne, Florida 



On 3/28/2009 5:07 PM, allen wrote:
> Charts in electronic form are a perennial question, and I'm guessing 
> the answers keep changing.
>
> With the cost of digital data dropping for most applications, I'm 
> wondering if there is much progress in marine navigation charts.  I 
> just spent some considerable time on the Garmin site and, besides 
> being a massive puzzle and runaround, the prices and restrictions are 
> simply unreasonable for anyone who plans to cover a lot of ground 
> (well, water really) and never return.
>
> Can anyone pass along URLs for site which discuss alternatives or 
> workarounds for those of us who would like to have access to the data 
> that we have already paid our governments to collect without being 
> subject to the bands who distribute it?
>
> I am specifically interested in the east and west coasts of Canada and 
> the US, the Great Lakes, and some of the Caribbean.