Hey gang,

Apologies for the silly question, but I could not find the answer searching the forum.

Rather than getting a GPX file off my Lowrance unit, if I wanted to create a file in Excel (for later conversion to GPX) what data (i.e. column headings) does Reef Master need to have?

The background to my question, is I am looking into if I can use the Reef Master to map a parameter other than depth (e.g. substitute depth for say water temperature, pH, salinity, etc). The data would have X:Y coordinates and a substitute for depth off my data logging water meter.

Thanks,
AJ

You can import data directly from a CSV file with columns X,Y,Z (or your own value). You will need to have the latitude and longitude represented as decimal values (WGS84 is the default on import, but other datums or projections can be used). Note that you might need to scale your input value to create a range within RM that is big enough to work with - e.g. if you have a set of pH values across a narrow range of, say, 6-8, then this is going to give you a "map" with at most a 2m range, which won't allow for many isobaths or contours in the finished map.

Thanks Matt. Thats very helpful and sounds like I can easily achieve what I want.

Re the Z value range and isobaths/contours, are they not adjustable?

I am assuming, based on your comment they must be at about 1m intervals? Is it possible to set the scaling (i.e. say every 0.1m)?

If not, and using the pH example, I could scale up by a factor of maybe 10x, so 6.00-8.00 (2m range) would become 60.0-80.0 (20m range).

It'll mean scaling will be out of whack, but it'd work fine for the purposes of visualising the range.

Major contours and isobaths are adjustable from 50m down to 0.5m (which gives minor contours of 0.125m), so depending on how many contours you want to end up with, you should probably try to end up with a range of over 10m or more I would guess, since this will give you more flexibility with the finished map.

Thanks Matt.