6/1/2012
To supplement your information about a particular route it can be useful to have one route overview chart with low resolution along with several smaller charts with higher resolution to cover the route's waypoints and path. The Multiple Charts using Route feature of ChartAid provides a simple four-step method to produce these charts:
As an example, consider a route through the San Lorenzo Channel and Cerralvo Channel in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. The major points of interest along this route include the pass between Espiritu Santo and Rosario and the pass between Isla Cerralvo and Bahia de la Ventana. To cover the Cerralvo Channel route, it would be helpful to have one large low resolution chart of the overall route plus some high resolution charts to cover the route's waypoints and path. Outlined below are the steps required to easily produce these charts.
The first step is to select the desired source and area of interest as usual. Then select 'Route' in the 'Mode' box and fine tune this route by constructing multiple waypoints for the route. After constructing the route select the 'Route Width' parameter (bottom left hand corner of the picture) to adjust the route coverage.
Shown on the left is a screen shot of step one.
A graphical user interface is provided to help with the construction of the route. You can easily add, remove or move waypoints. You can also zoom in/out and pan the display to fine tune the route.
The second step is to select the resolution and the type of charts. The number of charts is determined by the resolution and the route coverage.
Shown on the left is a screen shot of step two.
To help you visualize the charts to be generated an overview display is shown in the upper right corner. This display shows the overall area of the charts along with an outline of each of the charts. The current chart visible on your screen is outlined in blue while the other charts are outlined in red.
The third step is to specify the charts' route name and select the compression level. All the charts will use the same compression level. The charts will all have the same route name with a number appended to the chart name to uniquely identify each individual chart.
Shown on the left is a screen shot of step three for Photo Charts.
The fourth step is to generate and save the charts. This is done by using ChartAid's batch processing feature.
Shown on the left is ChartAid's Batch Processing window for step four. In this example five charts will be processed: one low resolution route overview chart and four detailed charts.
The picture on the left shows the five processed charts as viewed with Coastal Explorer: route overview chart for the route along with four detailed charts. The borders of the charts are outlined in blue.
You can click on the picture for a larger view of the processed charts.
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