Computer based navigational planning SW for Axiom & a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Computer based navigational planning software for Axiom MFDs, a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs, and Dragonfly displays

Raymarine recommends Voyage Planner software for such waypoint/route planning with its MFDs. Please note that Axiom MFDs, a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs and Dragonfly displays operating with the latest available Raymarine product software updates support importing and exporting waypoint, route, and track data from/to files using the somewhat universally supported GPS Exchange (GPX) file format. As such any computer based navigational planning application which supports exporting waypont, route, and track data to a GPX file (ex. Raymarine Voyage Planner, Fugawi Marine 5, Rosepoint, OpenCPN, etc.) may be used for planning waypoints and routes. Correspondingly, those who have been planning waypoints and routes with navigational planning applications other than Raymarine Voyage Planner and should this same navigational planning application support exporting waypoints exporting waypoints and routes to GPX files, then it may continue to be used to plan waypoints and routes for the subject chartplotting products. When using a third party navigational planning application, care must be taken to consider the waypoint and route constraints of MFD/chartplotter that this data is being produced for.

After planning has been completed, the navigational planning application would then simply be commanded to export the planned waypoints and routes to GPX files to be saved onto a microSD memory card (recommend using a microSD memory card other than your LightHouse Charts, Navionics, or C-Map microSD chart card). You would then follow the instructions within the LightHouse R15 (or later) MFDs Operation Instructions to import the waypoints and routes from this microSD memory card into your MFD's memory.

For those having PCs, Raymarine Voyage Planner is recommended for planning waypoints and routes for the subject products. At the time of this response, Raymarine Voyage Planner features support for NOAA ENCs, NOAA RNCs, LightHouse charts (only those purchased via the LightHouse Charts Store), and Navionics cartography. Raymarine Voyage Planner does not presently for C-Map cartography, but a feature request has been logged to consider such support within Voyage Planner. For customers owning Apple computers, navigational applications such as MacENC and OpenCPN have been the most commonly recommended navigational planning applications. Again, the key to using a third party navigational planning application is to ensure that it support exporting waypoint and route data to GPX files and to ensure that planned waypoints and routes satisfy the constraints of the Raymarine product which they will be transferred to.


UPDATE: Raymarine has ceased sales of Voyage Planner software through Raymarine's Charts Store and through its dealers. A limited number of boxed copies of the Raymarine Voyager Planner software may be found within dealer inventories. While Raymarine has not yet announced a replacement planning application, it is quite possible that Raymarine may do so in the future. At this time, Navionics is recommending Navigation Planner PC planning software for its customers. Navigation Planner features support for Raymarine product and their waypoint symbol sets.


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