Dear RM folks,

I am a newbie RM user and i want to create my own charts for my Lowrance Elite 7 HDI.
I own several depth data in shp format for my lakes. Initially they are not in WGS84 coordinate system.
Following some tutaorials in the forum I first imported GPS assets. This works without errors or warnings.
After that I am adding these tracks to my project. The problem is that i cannot see anything in the contour view.
In qgis everything is fine. I also tried different coordinate systems.

I added some screenshots and the shapefile. Maybe it is an easy error or somebody encountered the same.

Best regards,
Helge

ReefMaster does not import depth data from Shapefiles, so all of your tracks will have a depth of zero - and if the "exclude zero depths" option was checked during import, you won't have any data points at all for those tracks.

If you want to try and create a map from existing contours held in Shapefile format, then you need to get this data into a format that RM can use. The easiest way to do this is probably to generate CSV files of the format LAT,LON,DEPTH. You would need to determine which attribute the depth value is held in for the Shapefile, and use a GIS package such as QGis to perform the conversion.

Hi Matt,

thanks for your fast reply. I will try this, but today I am to stoned due to a free day in Germany and tomorrow I am going to fish big pikes and zanders.

Thanks a lot and I will give you a success story in a few days

Best regards,
Helge

Today i had some time to transfer the shapefile into a csv. I used qgis and a script i easily programmed with vba. It worked like a charm. Tommorrow i will test the map on my plotter.

Any tutorial on how to convert shape to CSV with Qgis? I can get a lot of lake data in my area in shape files but I don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to gis

Is a bit tricky (many settings). Important is the coordinate system e. g..
Best you send Matt a sample for testing.

hxxp://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/publications/DIG/ZIP/DIG_2008_0582.ZIP

That's the link tho the main map i would like converted

This is a ready interpolated shapefile - not applicable for next Interpolation in RM. Ask your source if it's possible also to receive area shapes - better donut shapes.
It's also possible, to create area/donut shapes from your line shapes, but not so simple. Ask also for better labeling - whole meter or feet.

RM will give in v2 the possibility, to load such shapes and export as AT5.

Until then use this small manual. The result is only a chart with labelt lines. Additional you also can create a lake area with different methods (not contain in the manual)







After proceeding in QGIS use the IMC Attribute Mode for add and filling attributes. The same step is also possible in QGIS.



result in the Insight Planner (only lines)

Thanks a bunch for your time on this fjordfisher. Just having the lines is a big help. It will give me a good guide to map areas while i fish them and generate my own maps. I got about another month until the ice is off so this will keep me sane working on this until winter is over.
Thanks again