I'm looking for options to plan data collection tracks and create a chart for my new Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp unit.

I will be looking into qgis and josm to use in conjunction with RM Pro.

There is likely information in the manual and in threads here, but I haven't found what I'm looking for.

I exported a local lake from OpenStreetMap and then drawn a path with JOSM. (image attached I hope)

I will attempt to import the josm file into ReefMaster Pro and create an AT5 file with IMC.

No particular question yet, I'm just noting what I will try.

Surveying is a tedious process, best way is to traverse grids, in areas where you need high detail I use 20m grids, in areas that are "featureless" you can get away with 50m grids. Speed is also relevant, the slower you go the more detail gathered. 4kn for higher detail, however i did survey a basin with very little structure or depth changes at 12kn with good results. good luck Phil

Tedious indeed.....!!

When I set out to survey a small lake like this the first thing I do is to carefully circumnavigate it, as close to the shore as practical, normally in 5-10ft of water.
This will give you a good basis for your subsequent traverses, and you'll have a very good idea of the bathymetry close to the shore - this will save you dinged props and a lot of time. If you are using sidescan it gives you the benefit of having a complete shoreline or shallow boundary for the entire lake, rather than having the data for the most dangerous water gathered on a turn with all the problems that can arise from it. You will be able to adjust your plan on the basis of this first run - it never works out the way you first intended, so plans usually go completely to pot anyway.

T

Be careful using Openstreetmap data for the boundary - I have found a lot of discrepancies in the data for my local area. I would definitely compare your boundary from OSM to an aerial map to verify the limits. Google earth would be great for this.

Here is how I create my survey grid:
Manually create the boundary in Google Earth using the polygon tool and then import that in a CAD program (you could probably do this in QGIS).
Create the survey grid using the polyline & array tool. I then trim the grid lines to the boundary line that I imported and then save the file out as a KML file.
From here I will either directly import the KML into Reefmaster or open it in QGIS and create a Geo-referenced image that I can use as well.