Chartplotter

Plotter will be ship navigation devices which display on a display an electronic chart.

The devices offer a zoom feature, through which the sea area can be displayed in different scales and levels of resolution and detail levels. So you can see on the overview map, for example, the beacon, and the further you zoom on the control card and driving tons of water, and on the port map in detail the port facilities.

Plotter have a color display, and can be, for example, connected to a GPS system, the sounder or the anemometer. Thus, they always offer the skipper latest information and are therefore an important aid to navigation.

Multifunction displays combine GPS, chart plotter, radar, AIS, echo sounder and fish finder on a screen. The radar image and other ads are placed in layers semi-transparent at the chart and thus yield an excellent overview of the situation in the sea area around the ship.

Originally plotter were mainly used in large ships. Meanwhile, they are integrated into electronic information systems ( ECDIS), which cover the entire ship management. In the recreational marine chartplotter have held by the sharp drop in prices in the 1990s, collection, and are now part of the standard equipment on every charter boat.

2005, the first mobile phones with GPS and map were available. On modern smartphones charts can be displayed even on the small display.

Trends

Increasingly, laptops and tablets are used as a cheap substitute for plotter. Through networking via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi data from other navigation equipment on display are displayed. By using the SSD storage devices are resistant to vibrations. Water resistance is achieved by protective housing or special waterproof displays.

Through open operating systems, free cards can be used. OpenSeaMap also works on Garmin chartplotters and handheld devices with "Navy " mode.