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Free Downloadable Satellite Charts (No Gimmicks!)
Last Updated: 11/13/2024

Here are the Satellite Charts I have made/collected for the areas we have visited in the Western Pacific, plus a few other chart sets that other people have done.  Be sure to read all the cautions and 'how to's' down below.  (Thanks to all those cruisers who have shared their Satellite charts with me that have been included in these sets).  Note, charts made before 2020 are KAP files, those 2020 and newer are mbtiles.

For WHY you want/need Satellite charts: 
SSCA Presentation on Navigation Alternatives (free PDF)

These are ZIP files.  To save to your local hard drive, right-click on each file and select "Save As", and save to your Charts directory, then unzip them.  Instructions on how to "install" the charts for the most popular charting programs are below.

About Satellite Charts           Useful? Buy Us A Beer

I suggest you review my presentation "Electronic Navigation Alternatives" if you do not already know why people are raving about KAP/mbtile satellite charts.  Presentations Link

DISCLAIMER DISCLAMER--these are homemade charts off Google Earth and other Satellite imagery. Don't trust your boat to these charts without lots of other corroborating evidence (other charts, your own eyes, depthsounders, etc).

The Satellite chart pictures are in generally very VERY accurate--usually more accurate than even the latest available charts we have in the western Pacific island countries and much of SE Asia, and with substantially more detail, once you learn how to read the colors in a satellite chart.

However, we know of a least 3 real issues possible with these 'home-made' charts.

1. Always always always do a cross reference between known waypoints before you trust any of these home-made charts.  And always back up this new-fangled technology with 'Mark I Eyeballs'

2. Any Satellite view sometimes has remote reefs 'missing' or painted out. Not sure why this is, but don't assume an empty expanse on a Satellite chart is really empty. Try to find S Minerva Reef, Rose Atoll, and Fonua One One (Tonga, S Vavau Group) on a GE chart. So again, always be cross-referencing with a regular chart when using these charts.

Note:  If you are using Google Earth, and the chart has clouds in it, or is "painted out" or lacks the normal Google Earth detail, it's worth taking a minute to check GoogleEarth again--they are continually updating the imagery.  Recommended:  Also try using SAS.Planet and looking at alternative image collections (Ge2KAP now works with SAS.Planet too, and has been renamed Sat2Chart)

Best download source for a known stable version of SAS.Planet, configured to work well with Sat2Chart is Paul Higgins' (the GE2KAP/Sat2Chart developer) download folder here:  https://www.gdayii.ca/Downloads/ 

Download the SASPlanet.zip file and unzip it and put the unzipped folder on your C:\ drive (no "installer" needed).  Make a shortcut to SAS.Planet.exe and put that on your desktop or Start menu.

3. In areas with small patch reefs, I have noticed that sometimes clouds form right over reeflets and small island. You think--"Oh, that's just a cloud.", but there's a good possibility of something solid underneath that cloud. (the reef warms the water and causes the small cloud, which obscures the reef in the sat pic). Always be suspicious of clouds.

Most of these charts were made with GE2KAP/Sat2Chart, a free utility available on the internet. Hundreds and hundreds of hours went into development of this tool. If you find them useful, go to the website and Paypal the author, Paul Higgins (a cruiser too) $10 or $20 to thank him for his incredible contribution to 'off the beaten path' cruising.

http://www.gdayii.ca/index.php

To use with OpenCPN

1. Copy this chart folder to someplace where you can find it again (My Documents\ or C:\Charts\ or whatever), and make sure it is unzipped

2. In the OpenCPN program, click the Gear Icon, and click the Charts Tab

3. (v3.1 and above):  Use the browse button to navigate to the folder and click the add button.  If you have your charts stored in multiple folders under one "Charts" folder, just adding the Charts folder, it will find and add all the sub-folders. (but you may not want to do this if you have an extensive collection of charts, adding individual subfolders for the area you are currently cruising is a better practice).

For lots more info on using OpenCPN, see our presentation we gave to SSCA in 2015

5. Click on the Add Selection button, and the folder, AND ALL SUB-FOLDERS will be added to the 'Active Chart Directories' box below. Do this for whatever charts you will plan to use in the near future.  If you end up with a multi-level folder structure (ie "Micronesia" and then a folder for each zip file, OpenCPN will find any chart in the tree, but Maxsea will only find the charts in the one folder you point it to).

6. Click OK, and OpenCPN will rebuild its list with your new charts included.

7.  Make sure you have "show chart outlines" display option turned on.  (shortcut: type "o" on the keyboard toggles show and hide chart outlines).  You should then see red chart outlines for the areas of charts you have added.

You should also see Blue, Pink, and Yellow/Brown bubble/bars at the bottom of the Chart area.  These will change as you move the chart around and zoom in and out.  These designate the available charts

8. If you have 'chart quilting' turned on in OpenCPN, Play with the light blue bars (KAP files) and pink bars (mbtiles) at the bottom of the screen to see which level of chart you can choose.  The left-most buttons on the bottom of the chart table are the most detailed charts, and the right-most are the least detailed.

To zoom in and out, the easiest way is with the + and - keys on your keyboard.

Download FREE OpenCPN Open Source Chart Plotter / Navigator

Source for the "Background Chart" (search doc for CM93)

Easy Steps to Make Your Own Satellite Chart

To Use with Maxsea 10.3.2.1 (KAP charts only)

Put the chart folders where ever you want them to be. For example:

 C:\Charts\GoogleEarth\Fiji

To load the charts into Maxsea, click File / Open (NOT Open Chart)

Navigate to the folder where the charts are. Click on ANY KAP file (the individual chart files inside the folder), and click the Open button. Maxsea will load all the chart files in that folder. For multiple folders (ie Fiji, Vavau, etc), repeat for each folder.

These charts will now show up in a DIFFERENT window than the C-MAP (CM93) chart window that you are used to. To switch between windows, click Window on the main menu, and then either Raster or CM92Ed2.

Note that in Maxsea, these two windows are de-coupled. The routes will always show up in both windows, but the current view (ie zoomed in or zoomed out, etc) and the layer files are maintained independently. You can have a layer turned on for CM93 and not turned on for Raster and vice versa. You can be really zoomed in in Raster and zoomed out in CM93.

The only way I have found to remove chart loading in Maxsea is to shut down Maxsea, rename the folder to something else (temporarily), and start Maxsea back up.  Not finding the folder, it forgets about it permanently.

To use with Maxsea Time Zero

You are completely out of luck!  Furuno's Maxsea Time Zero product calls these 'legacy' charts.  They would much rather you buy charts from then than get them free off the internet.  You cannot use these charts with Maxsea Time Zero.  Their help files essentially say, you can keep your legacy version of Maxsea (or other charting program) installed along with Time Zero.

The New Soggy Paws in Raja Ampat June 2016

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