Choosing the Correct Electronic charts Rudiment of electronic cartography Important things to consider when selecting digital cartography 1- First of all, which charts formats are compatible with my software ? The more versatile your software is, the easier it will be to find the best and most accurate charts for your specific area. MaxSea’s advantage is that it is compatible with a large variety of chart formats : raster (Mapmedia, ARCS, Maptech, NDI, Softchart) and vector (C-Map 93, NTPC et NT+) 2- Where do electronic charts originate ? The most accurate charts for any given area are obtained from local hydrographical services. For example, buying Russian charts to navigate in French Brittany is not the best solution!  cc All Mapmedia charts are scanned from the area’s respective local Hydrographic Services’ paper charts. 3- How many charts will be available for my area with one specific chart format? you must consider the coverage and the level of details offered by the format in question. The more charts there is within a zone, the better the zone is covered. c; Mapmedia gives you all the existing digitized Hydrographical Service charts of the zone selected. 4- What is the best chart format: vector or raster? The scanned chart or raster chart is an exact photocopy of paper charts A vector chart is reproduced point by point. Mapmedia raster charts restore the precision and the reliability of the local paper charts because they are the faithful reproduction of these. You will find the same symbols and colors as those of paper charts which are probably already  familiar with. 5- How easy  is it to update my charts? . Thanks to contracts with hydrographical services, Mapmedia updates regularly its electronic charts, and it is easy to do. Choosing which type of electronic charts you use is important; it is a question of safety. Choose wisely!