Inland River Charts in RNC Format

[GPSNavX]

U.S. Boating Charts DVD over at freeboatingcharts.com for $49.95 has the Inland RNCs on it.

[Daddy's Dream]

GPSNavX Thanks.

I'm headed there now.

[Retcoastie]

Daddy,

You should check the format the charts you want are in before you buy. Below is from their Support Forum and that guy was not happy wasting $150.
.................................................. ....


Rolf Tanson
RE: PC Only
(msg #2.4: Posted Jan 23, 2007 4:11 PM)
reply


I am confused. I am using SeaClear navigation software. I bought the MED1 charts from Maptech, because SeaClear says: "The BSB/KAP file format is licensed from Maptech. BSB/KAP version 1-3 is supported." Unfortunately, it is impossible to install the charts in SeaClear. I spent 150$ for nothing. Could you give me a hint? Thanks.





Ed Lecuyer
SeaClear
(msg #2.4.1: Posted Jan 23, 2007 4:53 PM)
reply


As you note, SeaClear (a Windows PC-based application) supports version 1-3 of BSB charts. Their website, however goes on to say "Encrypted charts, like BSB/CAP can not be used." Because of the requirements of the various international hydrographic offices, all charts outside of US waters (such as those on the MED1 CD) must be encrypted in the BSB4 format.

When this format was created in 2002, we offered an updated software development kit to all of our partners so that they could support BSB 4 charts. I am unsure why SeaClear has not implemented this change - you may wish to discuss this with them. For more details, please see this Technical Document.

You may wish to consider using the Offshore Navigator software included with the MED1 CD. This includes all the features needed to effectively navigate with those charts. If Offshore Navigator is not to your liking, there are a variety of other navigation software packages (by Maptech and others) that will interface properly with BSB 4 charts.

-Ed Lecuyer
Senior Customer Support Manager

.................................................. .

I understand he is talking about the Med but he bought without being sure what he was getting would work. I hope you don't end up in his boat.

I have been looking at programs that will convert BSB files to other formats. There are several available. Maybe this week I will get time to try a couple of them and report the results.

Fair Winds

Ken

[GPSNavX]

Maptech International (i.e. non US waters charts) are in BSB 4 format, the U.S. Boating Charts DVD charts are in BSB 3 format.

[Retcoastie]

The website mentions the NOAA coastal charts are BSB. I could not find any reference anywhere on the site, not saying its not there, of what format the 3000 river charts they claim to have are in.

The coastals can be downloaded for free, unless your interested in the entire country, in a short amount of time or in easy segments.

So far all river charts I have found are Army Corps of Engineers charts and none of them are in BSB format. Perhaps MapTech does have something the rest of the world doesn't know about. If they do, they are not shouting it from the rooftops.

[W32PAMELA]

The free coastal charts are in BSB3 format but I would be suprised if anything on a CD sold by maptech is unencrypted ie BSB4 or higher. The $49.95 DVD with the river RNC's comes with Chart Navigator which you could use instead of SeaClear.

A little while back maptech bought SoftChart and SoftChart had taken all the Corps charts and scanned them to make raster charts. Now Maptech owns the softchart library.

Bob Stewart

[GPSNavX]

I have the Maptech "US Boating Charts" DVD and it has all of the BSB raster charts (RNCs) in the "BSBCHART" folder. They are all in BSB 3 format (.kap/.nos) including the Inland RNCs.

[Daddy's Dream]

It looks like the short answer is to order the $49.95 DVD and see how Chart Navigator Lite compares with SeaClear.

Does anyone know if Chart Navigator Lite shows depth, wind direction, wind speed, or supports AIS or radar overlay?
They have very limited information about the program on their web site.

[Retcoastie]

If the Maptech CD has charts "BSB 3 format (.kap/.nos) including the Inland RNCs" our quest is solved for $50.

The river .kap files could be directly converted by MapCal and used in SeaClear.

GPSNavX, could you try and see if, say, the Tenn-Tom river does come up in SeaClear by simple conversion using MapCal? That would allow planning and real time navigation. As I read the website, I got the impression the Chart Nav Lite program did not do real time operations.

Ken

[Pblais]

Does anyone know if Chart Navigator Lite shows depth, wind direction, wind speed, or supports AIS or radar overlay?

No you need to pay for the higher end products to get anything that intergates GPS radar or AIS. The free versions has no intergation of anything. If you end up buying anything Fugawi Marine ENC is still cheaper and supports all the formats and does NMEA in and out with AIS support but not radar overlay. For $200 you'll get al the charts on DVD included. ENC charts are clearly the better way to go.

[GPSNavX]

GPSNavX, could you try and see if, say, the Tenn-Tom river does come up in SeaClear by simple conversion using MapCal?

That would require I use MS Windows. I use Mac OS X with my MacENC application which supports real-time navigation with BSB (1-5) raster and S-57/S-63 ENC vector charts. Instruments and AIS are also supported in MacENC..

macenc.com


Doesn't SeaClear open BSB 1-3 directly without any conversion?

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by GPSNavX

I use Mac OS X with my MacENC application which supports real-time navigation with BSB (1-5) raster and S-57/S-63 ENC vector charts. Instruments and AIS are also supported in MacENC..

Me too! I'll try not to gush about how much I like this guy's program...

[Daddy's Dream]

Originally Posted by GPSNavX

Doesn't SeaClear open BSB 1-3 directly without any conversion?

You're correct.


pblais.. I actually prefer RNC's.... I played with ENC's on several different viewers and they just don't do it for me.

I also played with Fugawi Marine ENC program. It sucked. I installed it on a brand new laptop running windows Vista with 2 gig ram and a 160 gig hd.

The general layout and menus were easy to follow and use. However, it needs much more work.

I'm sure that some day this program will be ready for distribution. But as it is now I would not pay $279 for the full version. Right now, due to the frustration factor it isn't worth $20 to me.

Here are some of the things I didn't like about it.
Graphicly the world map looks like something designed a middle schooler.
You can't just click on an area and have the map automaticly open, you have to load each individual map.
Charting a route was a pain, you can't just double click to create a waypoint.
When using RNC's it kept locking up and I'd have to close the program and restart it and go to edit a route before I could add additional way points. When working with ENC's it seemed ok.
With both RNC's and ENC's whenever creating a route if the previous waypoint went out of view it will not allow you to create a new waypoint. Again, the only way to add additional waypoints after that is to restart the program, (Very frustrating anytime, but most annoying when routing across large bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mecico).
It took too long for the RNC's to load. It won't just load one ENC map by it's self, it loads all of them at once even if they are in different subfolders.
I would install IENC maps, but the next time I opened the program a few of the maps would not load and I would have to reinstall them all over again.

I think that's enough ranting over it.

[W32PAMELA]

In my previous post, I stated that the maptech CD comes with Chart Navigator. This was incorrect. The CD comes with "Offshore Navigator Lite" which does support GPS positioning.

Bob Stewart

[Daddy's Dream]

Originally Posted by W32PAMELA

In my previous post, I stated that the maptech CD comes with Chart Navigator. This was incorrect. The CD comes with "Offshore Navigator Lite" which does support GPS positioning.

Bob Stewart

I would like to take a look at Offshore Navigator Lite. Seems like I read somewhere that another software Company wrote this program for Maptech and the writers have their own program the writers sell as well.