This is some really great stuff.

I am on day 3 now and I cannot achieve this.

John,

Happy to talk this through with you or take a look at your vector exports to see what is going on - export as Shapefile and send through via email.

For this to work, the key points are:

• You must create isobaths in vector mode to get depth areas.
• You need to create an intermediary User Map to edit the areas before export, and colour the depth areas in the user map.
• You must create the raster background separately and just add the two RM generated at5 files to the root of the card (not the generated shadedrelief folder).

Matt

How do I create isobaths in vector mode, and where do I find vector mode in RM 1.6?

It's the default in a map project in v1.6 - you have to actively revert to raster mode by using the Colour mode button in the map project properties.
If you can post what you've got and where it is going wrong I sure we can get it working pretty quickly.

Also another thing to check is that you don't have an filled shoreline underneath the isobaths that is blocking your raster, although from the way you described the problem earlier it didn't sound as if that was happening.

Matt

This is what I am doing ...
1. Open RM
2. Open Recent Workspace (.rmdb file)

3. Region Select from Global View

4. Add tracks to project 'Inanda01'
5. Define Map Boundary

6. Contour View of 'Inanda01'

7. Create shoreline - Map Boundary
8. Apply interval settings (Map Settings)
9. Add to map - Isobaths - New User Map ... InandaISO1

10. Custom Isobath depth colours and change opacity to 100 to allow background image to show through.

11. Export Map to GPS (Inanda01 Tab)

12. Create Shapefile for At5 IMC format

13. Save file to IMC vector folder

14. Build At5 with IMC

15. Copy file 'Large.at5' from IMC Output Folder (BoundAT5's)

16. Paste to SD card - my SD card already had the Raster image files saved under the folder ShadedRelief.

17. Insert into Lowrance HDS
18. The ShadedRelief Background chart can be see (sediment chart),

but something is not right with the contours

and there are no isobaths ...

John,
First up - you are using the old 1.6 beta, no the new version 1.6 which you should download and install (not an automatic upgrade) from the try page. You should do this first, as the release version has some improvements - although there are no major functional differences that would stop this working.

• You absolutely need the at5.xml file on your card for transparency to work - this is what this file is for, so make sure you copy that as well. If you do an automated at5 export from RM and select the root of your SD card as the destination, this is taken care of for you (just ensure that you de-select "export raster" when exporting the user map, or copy your raster files over afterwards - otherwise they will be overwritten). If you are not doing an automated AT5 generate, then you need to check the auto create at5.xml option in the IMC.
• You should be exporting your user map, not your map project.
• You might consider losing the shoreline which is a filled polygon for the water body. This is shown behind your isobaths by default, and once you get the vector overlays going you will probably find that it obscures your raster. Just go to the shorelines group in the user map and delete the contents of the list (or set opacity/colour to whatever you want).

1 - updated software
2 - there is no at5.xml file - where does this file come from and where will I find it?
3 - how do I do an automated at5 export from RM?
4 - I am now exporting the user map
5 - I have removed the shoreline entirely

I now have contours on my shaded relief, but still no isobaths




If I change to 2D, then I get this ...

AT5.xml is generated when the Advanced Options > Vector Options > Auto Create XML is checked. The file will be placed in the BoundAT5s folder and must be copied to the root folder of the card.

This file can only be created when running the Vector Processing Mode.

John,
Automated AT5 export is under the Lowrance export option - see updated v1.6 manual pages for more. This option creates the IMC project file and runs it automatically. You just select the root of your SD card as the destination. There is an option to export a raster background - either depth colours or a "dummy" blank raster to allow opacity to work (AT5 quirk). You want to deselect this option as you have your own raster files already. Using the automated export will put both the large.at5 and at5.xml files in the right place.

If you want to use the IMC, you need to check the option "Auto create xml" as shown below. This creates the at5.xml file and this file contains information about how to render polygons over raster - including opacity. I assumed you were using the auto at5 export, otherwise I would have mentioned this as a possible problem earlier (if I'd thought of it!). See the IMC documentation for more.



It looks like you have data that will work as is - you just need to create the at5.xml file - so the first thing I would do is just recreate your map using your existing files and checking the auto create xml option.

Matt

Edit to add: if you have a filled shoreline behind your isobaths, don't include that when you rebuild in the IMC as that may obscure the raster (or - delete it from the user map before doing an automated export).

gpiverson wrote:
Boom!!! There it is, thanks. Amazing how such a small error can create utter disappointment and often the cause of many who try to just give up.

Thanks Matt, that was the ticket.

Much appreciated.