Making your own depthcharts (contours)

[Team Colibri]

A few others on this forum have posted that they are less then happy with the depthcharts available through commercial channels. I thought I would share a little project of mine with you, from a part of the world where digital depthcharts hardly exists at all.

I started thinking about making my own depthcharts in 2012. I spent a lot of time during the wintermonths researching my options, both for hardware, software and the theory behind making charts. I found a few fellow "chartmakers" in the process, and today quite a few of us work on mapping lakes and waterways, and share our data and charts. The idea is simple, having as many people as possible contributing depthdata from their fishfinders, and then combining that data to make maps for all of us to use.

There are several different versions of software on the marked that can be used, I'll mention a few:
- Reefmaster
- Insight Genesis
- Lakemaster Autochart (formerly Dr Depth)
All are ment for the unexperienced user. There are several profesionell softwaretools available as well, but they are expencive and can be quite complicated to use without training. I use Reefmaster, but have some experience with Dr Depth and Insight Genesis as well. The main reasons for choosing Reefmaster where price, beeing able to use data from and creating charts to different brands of fishfinders/ chartplotters and the fact that the program is downloadable so you own all your data and the finishen maps.

In order to use these softwaretools, you need data that includes depth and a GPS-fix. This can be collected using a wide array of brands and models of fishfinders, that have two features in common:
- GPS (usually means it is a combined fisfinder and chartplotter, although there are other options as well)
- Saving data to a memory card (usually in the form of an SD or Micro SD card)

Quite a few units can be hardwired to a PC as well, but we will skip this for now.

When the software and hardware is in place, the next step is to go out on the water an collect data. This can be done simply by collecting data when fishing and cruising around as you usually do, or by running your boat in a pattern to make sure all of the lake is mapped up. I use a combination of the two.

When returning from your fishingtrip, you save the data from the fishfinder onto your memorycard, put the memorycard into your PC and let the mapping-software chew on it. You then export your finished depthchart back to the memorycard, and voila, you have a depthchart of "your lake" in your chartplotter.

A few screenshots from my own Lowrance HDS-units of maps I have made:












Bottom line: There are ways to get depthcharts of your favourite lakes and waterways, without buying it from LakeMaster/ Navionics and such. DIY!

 

[thudpucker]

Boy I wish I had the Youth and Exuberance to take on projects like that.

 

[Team Colibri]

thudpucker » 7 minutes ago[/url]"]Boy I wish I had the Youth and Exuberance to take on projects like that.

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment.

As I said, there are several fishermen collecting data. Most of these don't do anything but turn on the recordingfunction on their fishfinder/ chartplotter when fishing, and then send me their files with the data. They don't know (or care) about the theory or software, they just know they have to contribute data in order to get a map back and that's it for them.

 

[thudpucker]

It was a Compliment.
In Alaska I put out Halibut Buoys.
When the Water was rough, I couldn't find the Buoys.

I put a "Pinger" inside the Buoys Powered by two 9V Batteries.
I put an RDF in the Boat.
When I put in a Coded number, for a particular Buoy, the "pinger" would start up for 30 seconds or so.
The RDF would point "TO" or "AWAY" from the Buoy.

I got a "ticket" from the FED because I was broadcasting more than 5 Watts.
They told me 5 Watts was what the Gov used to the MOON!

To get a license to do what I was wanting to do, cost more then my Buoys etc.
Sooooo..... GPS was just over the Horizon and was supposed to be pretty good.
But I was so proud of myself.... :LOL2:

 

[RAMROD]

This is way cool!

 

[Team Colibri]

thudpucker » Today, 01:41[/url]"]It was a Compliment.
In Alaska I put out Halibut Buoys.
When the Water was rough, I couldn't find the Buoys.

I put a "Pinger" inside the Buoys Powered by two 9V Batteries.
I put an RDF in the Boat.
When I put in a Coded number, for a particular Buoy, the "pinger" would start up for 30 seconds or so.
The RDF would point "TO" or "AWAY" from the Buoy.

I got a "ticket" from the FED because I was broadcasting more than 5 Watts.
They told me 5 Watts was what the Gov used to the MOON!

To get a license to do what I was wanting to do, cost more then my Buoys etc.
Sooooo..... GPS was just over the Horizon and was supposed to be pretty good.
But I was so proud of myself.... :LOL2:

Not a bad idea, and shows that a little creativety can go a long way.

 

[Team Colibri]

RAMROD » Today, 09:23[/url]"]This is way cool!

Thanks.

If you or any other users of this forum is interested, I can make a map of your lake. It could be cool to show you how this works, if a forumuser volunteered. This is a little bit off to the side of my original project, so I will have to put a limit on the size of the lake at maximum of 20 km2. It doesn't have to be a whole lake either, I can make a map of your favourite spot in a lake as well. For small projects like mapping a certain underwater feature (like a rockpile) I can make 3D-photos as well.

I need the following to make a map:
- data containing depth and GPS-posisioning
- name of the lake
- make of your fisfinder/ chartplotter
- your emailadress

What I'll do is draw up the outline of the lake and any islands in Google Earth (a free software). This is then imported to Reefmaster, and by this point I can make the first "empty" map, ie a map with shoreline and islands, but without depthcontours. This can be useful for the ende user, simply because it's nice to have a background map in the chartplotter. (If the chartplotter already has a backgroundmap, we can skip this part.) When I recive data from the end user, I import that into the map, and have he first version of a depthchart with contours. The more data I get, the better the map becomes, data can easily be added to an exisiting map in Reefmaster.

I have mostly made lakes with data from Lowrance Elite (5/7) and HDS models, but can use data from almost any brand and model out there as long as it has depth/GPS and recordingfunction: Humminbird, Raymarine, Garmin, Eagle, B&G, Simrad etc. If you don't know what your fisfinder/ chartplotter is capable of, simply post the brand and model in this thread and we will see if I or any other readers know.

BTW: this is pro bono from me, I'm your avarage overworked father with small kids, so don't expect to have your map back ten minutes after giving me the input.

 

[PSG-1]

VERY nice work! =D> 8)

Here in the southeastern US, there are plenty of charts for the ocean and coastal waters, but above the ICW, going inland, not a whole lot of information available, particularly the rivers. Most lakes have charts, but not the stretches of rivers between these lakes and the ICW near the ocean.

 

[FerrisBueller]

Very cool stuff.

I actually did a similar project probably 10 years back for a school project. We went back and forth across a local lake taking depth measurements and we plotted it all using an excel graph, which gave us a 3D lake map.

 

[Team Colibri]

FerrisBueller » Today, 18:15[/url]"]Very cool stuff.

I actually did a similar project probably 10 years back for a school project. We went back and forth across a local lake taking depth measurements and we plotted it all using an excel graph, which gave us a 3D lake map.

This is basicly how it works now as well, just with a better user interface. What you did then is actually quite easy now, many modern fisfinder/ chartplotters can output a file in the CSV-format, wich again can be put into excel.

 

[thudpucker]

How would I get the Digital Data to you?
I don't think my FF has an SD or XD card!

 

[RAMROD]

Do you use the light or the pro version?

 

[Team Colibri]

RAMROD » 17 minutes ago[/url]"]Do you use the light or the pro version?

I use the Pro version. The Light version does not support making maps from sonarlogs (ie data from a fishfinder/ chartplotter), it only supporter drawing contours in maps by hand.

The Lightversion is good for waypoint management and such, but not really something you want to use for making charts unless you are a VERY patient person.

When compearing prizing against other programs, remember that Reefmaster is a one time investment, while for instance Insight Genesis is a subscription-service.

 

[Team Colibri]

thudpucker » Today, 20:44[/url]"]How would I get the Digital Data to you?
I don't think my FF has an SD or XD card!

Do you know what brand and model you have? Generally speaking the really budget ones doesn't support this sort of datalogging, but I woun't know for sure unless I know the make/ modell you have.

 

[Team Colibri]

An example of what a 20 km2 lake look like on a printable map. Sorry the resolution is poor, the forum has a limit on how big the photo can be in order to upload. For printing I would offcourse make a map with the highest resolution possible.



The white areas sorrounded by a thick(ish) black contour are islands. The white areas without the black contour sourrunding it are areas where I dont have any deptdata at this point.

 

[thudpucker]

I think I was married to that Gal in the photo? :wink:

It's dark n' cold out now. I'll see what kind of FF I have on the boat. This whole rig is new to me.

 

[Team Colibri]

It's not all sunshine and gentle winds here in Norway either, winter is defenitely on it's way. Boating now means a full flotation-suit and a lot of warm clothes underneath it.

I got a few questions on PM, thought I should answer them here as well:

Combo-unit = a unit with both fisfinder and chartplotter in the same unit.

What Lowrance-units can be used?
I belive all Lowrance-units that can display maps can use a map from Reefmaster, including older models. The maps from Reefmaster use the same file-format as Navionics, and Lowrance and Navionics have been compatibale for as long as I remember. BUT not all units can contribute data, the units presently sold that support sonarlogging are:
Elite-5 DSI
Elite-7
HDS Gen 1
HDS Gen 2 (both Touch and non-Touch)
All have to be a combo-unit, or networked so two units combined have both fishfinder and chartplotter.

A lot of older units support sonarlogging as well, like many of the older LMS-models.

What Humminbird-units can be used?
I'm a "Lowrance-man" myself, so if someone who knows their range could make a list that would be great. I know the 597 and upwards can be used, but the smaller (and cheaper) ones I don't know much about. So in order to make a list I would have to read through a lot of manuals.

 

[Team Colibri]

Another PM-question:
Can Reefmaster be installed on and used from an external harddrive? (For use with different computers and computers with restrictions on downlading software) I had to contact support for that one, the responsetime from Reefmaster-support was four minutes.

Answer from Reefmaster:
ReefMaster license keys are tied to a specific computer, so it is not possible to move an installation around in the way you are suggesting. What you can do is install RM on up to machines with a single license and, if required, you could install RM on further machines and move a license over as needed. You'd need to deactivate the license on the first machine, and then activate this same license on the second. The license must be deactivated on the second machine before it can be reactivated on the first again.

 

[thudpucker]

I braved the light of Day to Photo my FF.
It's a Garmin. I don't know if this one works.

 

[Team Colibri]

Sorry for the late reply thudpucker, it took me a while to find the manual.

Your unit does not have a GPS, I'm sorry but it can't be used to collect data nor display maps.

At least you got some fresh air.