Feature Requests

[yachtvalhalla]

Originally Posted by Moo

And not just the waypoint in the route having the WP properties open for any waypoint unlocks all waypoints.. This is an error surely?

I don't consider that an error. When making a route for the first time or when wanting to modify it, not only the waypoint whose properties are being displayed is one you might want to change but fine tuning the route you might want to add more waypoints, move several, delete one, append more, etc. Having the route in a 'volatile' condition with all waypoints unlocked is convenient. Once the properties has been closed the route is now in a 'safe' mode, i.e. it cannot be accidentally changed.


Terry

[donradcliffe]

One of the uses I have for Open CPN is as a race official for handicap races. I need to get course lengths for various courses using the same marks. I usually tune up the mark position in Open CPN by using the mark properties menu with a table of GPS positions for the real marks. Then I click on 'use nearby waypoint" to create my route.

I actually have two issues. The first is that sometimes I inadvertently shift the marks. The second is that my total course length does not agree with other programs, some times as much as 2% difference in course length. Please tell me I can trust the course lengths in Open CPN to be within less than 1% over a 10 mile course (no great circle effects).

[yachtvalhalla]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

One of the uses I have for Open CPN is as a race official for handicap races. I need to get course lengths for various courses using the same marks. I usually tune up the mark position in Open CPN by using the mark properties menu with a table of GPS positions for the real marks. Then I click on 'use nearby waypoint" to create my route.

I actually have two issues. The first is that sometimes I inadvertently shift the marks. The second is that my total course length does not agree with other programs, some times as much as 2% difference in course length. Please tell me I can trust the course lengths in Open CPN to be within less than 1% over a 10 mile course (no great circle effects).

I can't speak to the second issue but it's the first one that is discussed below. If you lock the waypoints unless a waypoint property dialog is displayed you will not inadvertently shift the mark. This is done in Options/Ships/Routes/Points with a checkbox.

And I think you have just supported my thought that this should be the default setting.

Terry

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Maybe this should go in Tracker too?

But it seems more imminent.


Would it be useful to have shortcut keys to turn on/off wp locking?
It used to be that opening the WP properties box unlocked that wp. I believe this is the case.

I have added this to Feature Requests in Tracker.

FS#2558 - Way Point Names
The ability to set WP Names "visible" when creating a route or using a route.

After creating a route you have to go back and select each and every wp individually and tick "Name" in order for the name/number to be visible.

Suggested improvements.

1. Allow Name on or off to be set as a default when creating the route,

2. To show WP names/numbers as visible or not visible for an entire route.


A fairly simple change I think.
Anyone agree please go to Tracker and give it some votes.

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by yachtvalhalla

...I think you have just supported my thought that this should be the default setting.
Terry

Terry, is it in Tracker? Can it be Voted for?


Tupaia, good. Did you VOTE for it? Needs to make it to the Vetted List.

[markdj]

I'm loving the split screen but I'm finding the raster charts aren't displayed at 1:1 pixel size resulting in a slightly blurry image.

A feature request, is it possible to have a simple GPS log that is resettable?

[yachtvalhalla]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Terry, is it in Tracker? Can it be Voted for?

It is now. #2560.


Terry

[Jon Hacking]

Enjoying v5's ability to display mbtiles, but …

Can we PLEASE go back to the old way of switching between charts?

With CM93 & KAPs, CM93 was the "background" chart & KAPs displayed on top of them. Clicking on the blue bar took you to KAPs, clicking on the yellow/brown bar took you back to CM93. Simple, intuitive, straight forward, easy to use.

<rant>Enter mbtiles, which use an entirely different (& confusing) paradigm. Clicking on a magenta bar displays an mbtile, but WHICH ONE? Several of them can appear to be active at the same time! And trying to go back to CM93 or KAPs by clicking on the blue or yellow/brown bars doesn't work! To make matters worse, clicking on the blue (KAPs) bar will explode that bar into all the KAPs that (would be) visible, implying that you're looking at KAPs, but NO, you're still looking at mbtiles!

To get back to KAPs or CM93, you have to click the magenta bar again(!?!) which puts a tiny (& difficult to see) X in the left side of THAT magenta bar, which is supposed to show that it's turned off. But you have to turn off ALL mbtiles before you can get back to CM93 or KAPs. And if you're displaying mbtiles, several of them can be active at the same time, & it's not easy to know which one is currently active.
</rant>

I find the old "what you click is what you get" interface for selecting which chart you're looking at to be effective, intuitive, & easy to use.

I'd REALLY like to go back to this paradigm for mbtiles as well. The current "click it on, then click it again to turn it off" paradigm for mbtiles is counter intuitive, especially given how charts have been handled in the past, & leads to problems when you have multiple mbtiles loaded for a given area (like ArcGIS, Bing, GE, Navionics, &/or CMap).

[Baksteen]

Is it possible to show the 'description' from MBTiles metadata on hovering over the piano? Maybe instead of one of the unused ones for MBTiles like Soundings, depth units etc.

[cagney]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Enjoying v5's ability to display mbtiles, but …

Can we PLEASE go back to the old way of switching between charts?

With CM93 & KAPs, CM93 was the "background" chart & KAPs displayed on top of them. Clicking on the blue bar took you to KAPs, clicking on the yellow/brown bar took you back to CM93. Simple, intuitive, straight forward, easy to use.

<rant>Enter mbtiles, which use an entirely different (& confusing) paradigm. Clicking on a magenta bar displays an mbtile, but WHICH ONE? Several of them can appear to be active at the same time! And trying to go back to CM93 or KAPs by clicking on the blue or yellow/brown bars doesn't work! To make matters worse, clicking on the blue (KAPs) bar will explode that bar into all the KAPs that (would be) visible, implying that you're looking at KAPs, but NO, you're still looking at mbtiles!

To get back to KAPs or CM93, you have to click the magenta bar again(!?!) which puts a tiny (& difficult to see) X in the left side of THAT magenta bar, which is supposed to show that it's turned off. But you have to turn off ALL mbtiles before you can get back to CM93 or KAPs. And if you're displaying mbtiles, several of them can be active at the same time, & it's not easy to know which one is currently active.
</rant>

I find the old "what you click is what you get" interface for selecting which chart you're looking at to be effective, intuitive, & easy to use.

I'd REALLY like to go back to this paradigm for mbtiles as well. The current "click it on, then click it again to turn it off" paradigm for mbtiles is counter intuitive, especially given how charts have been handled in the past, & leads to problems when you have multiple mbtiles loaded for a given area (like ArcGIS, Bing, GE, Navionics, &/or CMap).

Are you using chart groups at all?
I never really get in to your problems as I do use chart groups to decide which charts I want to look at. It's very quick to change between the first 10 chart groups with the numerical keys shortcuts.

Thomas

[bcn]

There are no "meta data" for mbTiles.
mbTiles are raster pictures shown as an overlay. Not charts for navigation.

A screen shot from let us say some Navionics vector chart shall not be taken as a raster chart ready to sail.

The reasoning why the "chart piano" acts differently on them.

[cagney]

Is it possible to show the 'description' from MBTiles metadata

Yes it's possible, so just enter a feature request in the tracker, with some good arguments that can convince other users and the lead developer.

In a plain vanilla MBTiles download, 'description' is not very interesting, unless you add something sensible to the field. See below.

MBTiles is just a SQLite database. Here is a different 'view' of one of my charts.



Thomas

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by cagney

Are you using chart groups at all?
I never really get in to your problems as I do use chart groups to decide which charts I want to look at. It's very quick to change between the first 10 chart groups with the numerical keys shortcuts.

Thomas, I don't usually use chart groups. I find that OpenCPN chokes if I load it up with too many charts, so I usually only feed it the charts for my area (& maybe the next area we're going to). But I don't see how this mitigates having multiple mbtiles charts of the same area. Are you saying I should put my ArcGIS charts in one group & my Bing charts in another, so they're never shown at the same time? This seems like a convoluted way to switch between different views (charts) of the same area. And it doesn't get around the silly "click it on & click it again to turn it off so you can view another chart type" current paradigm, or the fact that the 2 paradigms are trying to coexist on the same chart selection interface. Why make them different? It's confusing & counter intuitive.

I'm making (& wanting to load up) ArcGIS, Bing, GE, Navionics, & CMap charts of the areas we're cruising (currently the Solomon Islands but moving to PNG & Indonesia). Some maps are better than others for certain areas, & I want to be able to switch between them pretty easily (of course). I can't see a good reason for changing the chart-switching paradigm. It's confusing & counter intuitive, especially for us Olde Fartes who've been using OpenCPN since the dark ages.

Originally Posted by bcn

There are no "meta data" for mbTiles.
mbTiles are raster pictures shown as an overlay. Not charts for navigation.

A screen shot from let us say some Navionics vector chart shall not be taken as a raster chart ready to sail.

The reasoning why the "chart piano" acts differently on them.

BCN, I don't see any "reasoning" here. mbtiles seem very similar to KAPs to me - georeferenced satellite photos (or somewhat untrustworthy but nevertheless useful charts with depths in the case of Navionics & CMap). What's the justification for suddenly changing the way the user is supposed to switch between the different types of charts for a given area? What's wrong with the old "what you click is what you get" paradigm for mbtiles?

[Baksteen]

Originally Posted by bcn

There are no "meta data" for mbTiles.
mbTiles are raster pictures shown as an overlay. Not charts for navigation.

A screen shot from let us say some Navionics vector chart shall not be taken as a raster chart ready to sail.

The reasoning why the "chart piano" acts differently on them.

I don't get this.. Why is a MBTile not suitable for navigation?
You can put whatever in this format, just like a KAP chart. Of course, I'm not interested in adding information for Google Maps overlays. I have charts with depth information and buoys and it would be nice to display the sounding-date and supplier to the user. Also because of the MBTiles update dates are always at the year 2000 in the piano I would like to have some more control over what information of the chart is displayed to the user.
Every good chart is accompanied with some extra information next to just a simple title/name.

MbTiles are not only suitable for illegaly downloading Navionics or Google Maps and displaying them fairly easy in OpenCPN... you can create whatever you like and set every entry of the metadata on whatever you like.

[nohal]

MBTiles standard ignores the metadata you talk about, but of course anything can be put into the metadata table, come with a sane system, start publishing good tilesets using it and we will implement it, very fast. SAT2CHART already had it's chance and decided not use it, maybe you will.

Pavel