Gear: Raymarine LightHouse Charts
Marine electronics specialist Raymarine is on track to launch its own cartography service in Australia late this yearRaymarine has announced it will launch its own Australian cartography using locally sourced hydrographic services late this year.
The service, which will tap into the same data used by marine professionals, will complement existing cartography such as Navionics and CMAP, with users able to choose which of the three mapping services suits them best.
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The LightHouse Charts feature will be added to the latest update to the LightHouse 3 operating system, codenamed Dartmouth, which will also be available to owners of older Axiom systems.
The launch of LightHouse Charts coincides with the reveal of the next-generation Axiom+ system, a vastly updated dash- or console-mounted multimedia touchscreen interface that goes on sale in Australia this week.
Similar to other cartography apps available to boaters, Raymarine will allow users to subscribe to the service via LightHouse Premium for a monthly or annual subscription fee. As well as water-based fishing hot-spots and points of interest, users will also gain access to onshore destinations.
“Engineered for both recreational and professional applications, LightHouse Charts allows captains to switch between an official government-style chart presentation or an information-rich leisure chart view,” Raymarine said.
“Captains can also choose between four chart colour palettes optimised for bright sun, dusk, and nighttime lighting conditions.
“Raymarine users can also take advantage of a LightHouse Premium subscription and access continuous chart updates, an expanded points-of-interest library, and enhanced satellite imagery from Mapbox,” it said.
However, unlike some rivals, the LightHouse Charts system will not include real-time community updates such as cloud-based soundings, shared fishing hotspots and other information supplied via its users.
Raymarine says it is looking at adding this feature in a future version of the software.
LightHouse Charts for Australia is expected to be launched in summer.
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