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Integration of Information

It’s difficult to retain information with traditional charts and maps. I have friends who carefully write information on their maps collected on trips or from other paddlers, such as good beaches and water sources, areas with hazardous currents or winds and sites with a lot of wildlife. However, these annotations fade with sun and rain and are lost forever if the map blows away during a crossing. When the map becomes worn or unreadable, there’s a lot of work and opportunity for error when transferring the information to a new copy of the map.
A digital map viewer solves this problem by providing for electronic annotations to a digital chart or map. The annotations become “permanent” for that chart or map. Whenever I work with a map or print it, I can choose the annotations that I want to display and print.

Waypoints
“Waypoints” are points or features on a chart or map having particular latitude and longitude or UTM coordinates. Charts show lights, buoys and other navigation aids. Maps are marked periodically at geographically important points with “triangulation stations” and “benchmarks” that correspond to specific points typically marked on the ground with a permanently fixed brass or aluminum disk. There are numerous other points I like to keep or capture as waypoints: beaches where I’ve camped, streams where water can be obtained, sea arches and caves, sea bird colonies, public use cabins, tide and current stations, artificial landmarks, archeological sites and other points of interest.
Viewing software and the Internet make it easy to mark, transfer, view and manage waypoints. For instance, while viewing a light marked on a georeferenced digital chart, I can create a waypoint at the correct latitude and longitude simply by clicking on the light symbol. I can edit the waypoint, pinpoint its location or add flash characteristics or other information to the waypoint’s description. With a few more clicks, I can download all selected waypoints and descriptions to my GPS. Any standard handheld GPS can be used in conjunction with digital charts, maps and viewing software. All that’s required is an interface cable to communicate between the GPS unit and the computer. These cables are supplied with many GPS units or can be purchased separately for about $20.
A map printed with waypoints lets me associate the waypoints in the GPS with topographical features and locations while I paddle. I can display and print the light waypoint on a map, which wouldn’t otherwise show lights. Going the other way, I can mark a triangulation station waypoint on a map and view and print it on a chart.
Waypoints can be created with a GPS. When kayaking, I usually take a quick GPS waypoint at each beach, rookery, stream and other feature I want to remember. When I get home, I connect the GPS to the computer and, with a few clicks, upload the waypoints from the GPS to the computer and display them on a digital chart or map.
After waypoints are created by or uploaded to the viewer software, they can be saved in digital files that can be organized in any way you find helpful. I have one file that includes waypoints created by my GPS on past trips, separate files for each individual trip, another file for tide stations and miscellaneous files for other types or sources of information. When planning a trip, I open the appropriate waypoint files to evaluate the available information for the area. Right before a trip, I print a map for the area showing the waypoints, which I also download to my GPS. Since a waypoint file is a standard format text file, I can store, manipulate, annotate and export them using a spreadsheet program.

Tracks
Occasionally, I leave my GPS on while paddling and record a “track” or line of travel. I then upload the track to my viewer software and can see the track displayed on a chart or map. Besides being entertaining, this exercise can help sharpen your dead-reckoning senses. If the track shows that you were drifting to the right while making a crossing, you can ask yourself, “Was I aware I was drifting? What should I have done to compensate for the drift?” Recorded track data can be analyzed to calculate average speed and other time-distance functions. Tracks can be saved on the computer as a digital file and displayed on a chart or map whenever desired.
More often, I create tracks manually. I do this for two reasons. While trip planning, I use the computer mouse to draw tracks along possible routes, into bays and across channels. A display lets me know the distance covered by each possible route. This is quite a bit easier and more precise than using a set of dividers or some string.
After returning from a trip, while the route is still fresh in my mind, I manually create tracks (or upload recorded tracks) that trace my trip. I can compare the actual distance to the estimated distance and time spent paddling. These tracks also serve as a diary of the trip. (See Illustration 3.) Since the tracks can be kept as separate digital files and recalled at will, it’s possible to look back at a trip taken years previously to remind yourself where you paddled and camped.

Illustration 3: Tracks can be created by a GPS and downloaded to draw your route on a chart or map. Prior to a trip, you can use your computer to draw tracks on a chart to make an accurate assessment of paddling distances.
Illustration 3: Tracks can be created by a GPS and downloaded to draw your route on a chart or map. Prior to a trip, you can use your computer to draw tracks on a chart to make an accurate assessment of paddling distances.

Tracks can be created on the map and uploaded to a GPS. For example, at home you could draw a planned hiking route from a beach to a nearby peak, upload the route or track to your GPS and use it to help you stay on course while bushwhacking to the top.

 


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