I spent last summer collecting sonar log files and have created what I feel is one heck of a map of my favorite fishing hole. (See attachment)
I did this to have a better and more accurate map than was commercially available. Thank you Reefmaster!! I love your product.
I am now finding out how difficult it is to be able to view and use this map on a handheld GPS. It works awesome in my boat with my HDS unit. But have only found ONE GPS that can use my map. (It has terrible resolution and a really crappy, inaccurate antenna and an not able to get very close when drilling a hole in ice to fish my waypoints. I saved it in a number of formats, took SD card to store and tried it in every one for sale. None could read file.
Any suggestions???

It must read a file format that I can produce with Reefmaster.
I would like a bright screen, easy to read in sunlight.
Accurate GPS
Handheld

Please Help Me Find This :)

Previously I used Garmin handheld GPS-units for the ice fishing. Garmin has several mapping options available, old units require vector but newer can also deal with raster. Garmin vector maps usually requires polish format (mp) files and RM cannot export that. Shapefiles can probably be converted to mp-files but that probably involves a great deal of work so raster should be easier.

But why bother with handheld GPS - a modern smartphone should do the trick good enough? Export to KML from ReefMaster and load up google earth in the phone and you have the map there.

About easy to read in bright sunlight: I have a Samsung S4 Active that is "waterproof" and easy to read in daylight. Can't say anything about the accuracy of the GPS but it should be good enough for ice fishing use.

Regards,

/Martin

At the current time:
You could export your map as shapefiles, generate a map in at5 vector with the lowrance IMC and use this map in the old Lowrance Ifinder H2O. This map has to be created in at5 version 7 with IMC to work with an Ifinder.

My preferred way would be the one that Martin suggested. Export your maps as kml (maybe converted to kmz) and use that map online with Google or offline with one of the available apps, that can handlee these maps.

KML maps on Google Earth (or other mapping app) on a phone or tablet is certainly one option. In the next release of RM (early Feb) we are moving to vector depth areas (isobaths), which really opens up the options for KML and pre-HDS (non-raster supporting) Lowrance units. Here's an example of a map showing in KML on an Android phone. Note also that performance is (can be) very good, with smooth zoom and fast update. My experience of recent phones is that the GPS performance is surprisingly good - easily good enough for fishing use.



If using a phone or tablet doesn't cut it, the options are more limited. I know that Lowrance do have a range of handhelds (Endura), but have not tried them. Maybe Greg could chime in and let us know about AT5 compatibility there. Perhaps Hubert's suggestion of trying an earlier Atlas format would work?

We would like to support Garmin and we are actively looking at doing so - so in the future, that might be another option as they have a wide range of handheld units.

Matt

Edit to add: Just to be clear, this style of KML map is not yet available within ReefMaster, but it has been created with the current beta version, which will be available very soon. You can still create KML maps with the current version, but not with the coloured depth areas - just a single fill colour, with (optionally) colour-coded contours (see this post for some examples).

Endura supports AT5 Version 10 Raster...not vector.

Thanks Greg.

So - potentially there is a way you could use a Lowrance hand-held. You would need to export your map as an image from the contour view of the project, and use the IMC in raster mode. I would suggest you turn off gridlines and de-select "show frame and scale", and also make the generated image file as big as you can (until you get complaints about running out of memory). You would then follow the steps detailed in this post to get that image running on the device as an AT5 raster.

If you do try it, be sure to let us know how it goes!

Matt

The other choices would be battery packs or old units. I'm fairly sure the Endura units support GPX but it's not something I have a ton to do with.

Of course, you can use any other unit that can use the Reefmaster outputted data, as well.

Thanks guys!!

I would really like to use my Android phone as I already have it, it has a pretty good GPS and can recharge in my car.........yes we drive cars on the ice up here:)

The only use for this map is ice fishing, specifically very small rock piles and man-made fish structures (1-3 m. in diameter) scattered about lake. Their relationship to bottom contours/composition decides which one to fish and when. Drilling hole is alot of work so it would be nice to be able to go to a waypoint, drill a hole and be right on top of it.
I admit to not knowing an awful lot about mapping and most of what has been said about KML, KMZ is like another language to me.

Can someone direct me to somewhere I may learn more about how to put this map in my Android Razr phone. My only worry is how far I can zoom in. I would like to be able to zoom in as close as my HDS allows.

I had an H2O and it has a horrible antenna. I was able to view the At-5 on a Lowrance XOG but as I mentioned, terrible resolution, slow GPS update and does not zoom in nearly enough. Garmin would be my first choice but is currently unsupported.

I can't give you precise instructions for your phone, but for Android in general I do the following:

• Install Google Earth on your phone.
• Install a file manager on your phone, if you do not have one already. This is just a program that lets you view and open files, in the same way as Exporer in Windows (I use Android File Manager).
• Export your map from ReefMaster in Google Earth (KML) format. There's a few style options, but for now I would just take the defaults to see how it works on your phone.
• Plug your phone into your computer via the USB connector, and copy the KML file you exported somewhere onto your phone. It might make sense to create a new directory for your map files.
• On your phone, navigate to the location where you copied the KML file (in your file manager) and tap the file - Google Earth should open and zoom to your map.

From a quick search of your phone's specs, it might not be the most powerful. If you find the maps don't perform well, then you might consider making smaller subsets of the areas you are interested in and exporting those individually. You could then open the map you want as you need it. Also consider making a User Map before you export. You can then use the simplify option to reduce the number of points in the finished map, which will help with performance.

I have been able to get the files onto my phone and Google Earth opens them. I have a few issues I hope you can help with. I understand these may be a question for Google but maybe you can help me.
1) When I open the map, it does not display my location on the map. It just zooms into the map without my location shown.
2) Can I have waypoints displayed as a layer or something along with the depth contours map? Right now it is two files.
3) Can I have waypoints displayed as a pin or marker without name/numbers? I tried to delete numbers and now all 436 waypints display as "No Name" (It took forever to delete all of the names) The names tend to clutter map and make it hard to locate myself on the exact spot.
I appreciate all your help!!

1. Go to settings/My Location. If you've got a GPS fix, the map should zoom to your current location and show that location with a blue dot.

2. If you export the waypoints and map together, you can have both in one KMZ file. To do this, you need to use a Data Set. Data sets let you group user maps and waypoints together so that they can be exported easily. It also the only way to export assets of different types together.

3. If you export waypoints in Google Earth format, you shouldn't get a default name for empty waypoint names. You do get this behaviour in GPX export ("Waypoint"). If you want points without labels in your Lowrance then you need to export in USR format and choose the option "Nameless waypoints as icons" (selected by default).

hope that helps!
How did you find zooming and panning performance of the map on your phone?

Matt

Thanks Matt.
I will try to work on this today.
I will let you know how well it works on phone.
I think you should develop an app.........you would sell the crap out of them for icefishermen:)