What Maptech does

Maptech (legal entity Edgewater Marine Industries, LLC) is a privately held American marine navigation publisher founded in 1974 and headquartered in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The company produces and sells paper nautical charts under the registered ChartKit® trademark, Embassy Cruising Guides in both spiral-bound print and ebook formats, decorative self-adhesive nautical prints, navigation software, and an interactive online facility guide called MORE Maptech featuring marine facility data and drone video. Its content coverage spans the US East Coast (New England, Long Island Sound to Cape May, Chesapeake Bay to Florida, Florida to Mobile Bay) plus the Bahamas and Caribbean, built on NOAA chart data enriched with proprietary editorial content accumulated over five decades.

The company operates a direct-to-consumer go-to-market centered on maptech.com e-commerce, supplemented by a "Find a Retailer" physical retail network and digital downloads for ebook products. Revenue streams are almost entirely one-time consumer purchases of physical and digital goods; the company does not advertise pricing publicly, does not operate a disclosed subscription or SaaS model, and uses its Destinations Magazine as a free-with-purchase customer acquisition tool. Marketing channels include a monthly email newsletter, a Facebook page (RichardsonsMaptech), customer testimonials, and marina-side advertising partnerships (e.g., Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina, Cedar Island Marina, Newburyport Marinas, Halifax Harbor Marina).

Maptech serves horizontal consumer segments — recreational boaters, cruising enthusiasts undertaking extended voyages, and decorative chart buyers — with no disclosed enterprise or institutional customers. The firm has no disclosed venture capital, private equity, or parent-company backing, no management team publicly listed, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no patent portfolio beyond registered trademarks. The operating profile is consistent with a mature, owner-operated niche publishing business that has sustained a single-digit-million-dollar revenue base through product extensions and brand longevity rather than aggressive expansion.

Name

Maptech

Legal name

Edgewater Marine Industries. LLC

Website

https://richardsonscharts.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Maptech is a 50-year-old private US marine navigation publisher (Edgewater Marine Industries, LLC) selling ChartKit paper charts, Embassy Cruising Guides, navigation software, decorative prints, and the MORE Maptech online facility guide directly to recreational boaters and cruisers across the US East Coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nautical Charts and Marine Navigation Publications

NAICS

Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, Book, and Miscellaneous Retailers (459)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Marine Safety & Navigation Electronics Retail (PFDs, EPIRBs, GPS, VHF) (CRAMAIAH)

Keywords

• Nautical charts
• Cruising guides
• Marine navigation
• Navigation software
• Boating publications

Headquarters

HQ city

New Bedford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Nautical Charts and Publications: Sale of physical paper nautical charts, ChartKit products, and navigation publications including the Great Book of Anchorages and Rules and Regulations Handbook. Products are sold as one-time purchases with no recurring fees.
2. Cruising Guides: Sale of Embassy Cruising Guides available in both printed spiral-bound and ebook digital formats. Printed versions are spiral-bound for durability and ease of use on vessels.
3. Decorative Nautical Charts: Sale of decorative chart prints designed for wall display. These are self-adhesive products that can be applied directly to walls without framing.
4. Navigation Software: Sale of digital navigation software products for marine use
5. Destinations Magazine: Brand magazine available free with any online purchase while supplies last. Serves as a customer acquisition and retention tool.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Maptech publishes and sells paper nautical charts (ChartKit), printed and ebook cruising guides (Embassy Cruising Guides), navigation software, decorative nautical charts, and online facility guides (MORE Maptech) for recreational boaters cruising the US East Coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean. Products are sold as one-time purchases via the company's e-commerce site and a network of physical retailers.

Product overview

Maptech is a 50-year-old provider of navigational products for recreational boaters, offering a portfolio of paper nautical charts (ChartKit), digital navigation software, cruising guides (Embassy Cruising Guides available in print and ebook), decorative chart displays, and an interactive online facility guide (MORE Maptech) with drone videos. The product line serves East Coast and Gulf Coast boaters with regional chart books, destination-specific web guides, and essential navigation publications like the Great Book of Anchorages. Maptech positions itself as a trusted, comprehensive navigation solution for recreational and cruising vessels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ChartKit®: Maptech's core brand for nautical charts and navigation products.
• Embassy Cruising Guides
• Destinations Magazine
• MORE Maptech
• NOAA Interactive Chart Selector

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Navionics: Leading digital marine chart provider with a popular mobile navigation app, now owned by Garmin. Directly competes with Maptech's electronic chart and navigation software offerings through mobile-first GPS chartplotter solutions serving the same recreational boater audience.
• C-MAP: Electronic marine chart provider for recreational and commercial mariners, offering digital charts compatible with multiple chartplotter brands. Directly competes with Maptech's electronic chart and navigation software offerings in the marine navigation data layer.
• Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson: Long-established UK-based nautical chart publisher offering paper charts and cruising guides for European and international waters. Comparable as a traditional print-focused chart publisher with similar product formats and editorial-driven approach to navigation publishing.
• Waterway Guide: Publisher of cruising guides for the East Coast and Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Directly competes with Embassy Cruising Guides for the same cruising audience navigating the same East Coast waters, with overlapping regional coverage and editorial product formats.
• Explorer Chartbooks: Specialist publisher of chartbooks covering the Bahamas and Caribbean. Directly competes with Maptech's Bahamas and Caribbean ChartKit coverage for recreational cruisers transiting those regions, offering a closely comparable print chartbook product format.
• Reed's Nautical Almanacs: Publisher of nautical almanacs, tide tables, and navigation publications. Comparable as a specialty nautical publishing business serving recreational boaters with printed navigation reference materials and a similar editorial curation model.
• ActiveCaptain: Crowd-sourced marina information and cruising resource platform acquired by Garmin. Directly competes with Maptech's MORE Maptech interactive facility guide by providing boaters with marina reviews, anchorage information, and local knowledge in a digital format.
• Skipper Bob: Publisher of cruising guides focused on anchorages and stops along the Inland Waterway. Comparable as a specialty cruising guide publisher serving recreational boaters on US waterways with a similar printed guide product format and approach.

Broad incumbents

• Garmin: Marine electronics giant producing chartplotters, GPS devices, and after acquiring Navionics, electronic charts and software. Offers overlapping navigation capabilities across hardware and software, serving the same recreational boating customer base with a much broader portfolio.
• Furuno: Established marine electronics manufacturer producing chartplotters, fishfinders, and radar systems. Competes broadly with Maptech in marine navigation through hardware-centric navigation solutions serving the same recreational and light-commercial boater market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/RichardsonsMaptech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maptech-emillc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maptech