Feature Requests

[Geoid96]

Unless I have missed how to do it, there does not seem to be any control over the appearance of tracks imported with GPX In. When zoomed out, the black rings around each track point merge into one thick line.

Would it be possible to have options to remove circles and set track lines to user defined color and thickness?

[bdbcat]

Geoid96....

Can you post a copy of the GPX file that you imported for the screen shot shown?

Thanks
Dave

[Geoid96]

Dave,
GPX files imported for screen shot are attached. As .gpx and .zip are not supported for upload you will need to change extension from .doc to .zip and unzip.
The GPX files were created with a Garmin Oregon 300.
Regards,
John

[bdbcat]

Geoid96....

Some problem in the file/dir attachment.
Please try again, with just one GPX file.

Thanks
Dave

[Geoid96]

Dave,
This time a single .gpx file with just the extension changed to .doc
Rgds...John

[sy-revolution]

Hi,
A couple of issues I've found are that the SOG COG and position are displayed too small, my partner has trouble seeing it. Also if I put the laptop to sleep to conserve battery power OpenCPN can't find the GPS on restart. I have to change the port from say com4 to com3 then back again for it to reconnect to the GPS feed.

Other than that it magic!

[idpnd]

Hello sy rev, seen you on ybw before

The display size is one of the more popular requests, its been denied so far as most people are assumed to have gps display etc nearby (I do), and the general drive is to get as much screenspace for charts as possible.

This may or may not change (I'm not privy to the decision-making around here), but you can help yourself by using an external gps data viewer such as gippy for linux or polarcom or navmonpc on windows.

[Netsurfer]

Originally Posted by Geoid96

This time a single .gpx file with just the extension changed to .doc

I don't know exactly where your problems derive from, but ...

A typical track file created by OpenCPN looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<gpx version="1.1" creator="OpenCPN" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd" xmlns:opencpn="http://www.opencpn.org">
    <trk>
        <number>1274272639</number>
        <trkseg>
            <trkpt lat="43.427696" lon="-8.386012">
                <time>2010-05-19T12:37:19Z</time>
                <name>001</name>
                <sym>empty</sym>
                <type>WPT</type>
                <extensions>
                    <opencpn:prop>A,1,0,0,1</opencpn:prop>
                </extensions>
            </trkpt>
            .
            .
            .
        </trkseg>
    </trk>
</gpx>

Your GPX file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<gpx xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1"
xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3"
xmlns:gpxtpx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtension/v1" creator="Oregon 300"
version="1.1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtension/v1 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtensionv1.xsd">

  <metadata>
    <link href="http://www.garmin.com">
      <text>Garmin International</text>
    </link>
    <time>2010-05-23T13:13:44Z</time>
  </metadata>
  <trk>
    <name>MAY-23-10 03:13:42 PM</name>
    <trkseg>
      <trkpt lat="57.883771" lon="11.588074">
        <ele>19.36</ele>
        <time>2010-05-23T07:00:27Z</time>
      </trkpt>
      .
      .
      .
    </trkseg>
  </trk>
</gpx>

So I guess there are possibly at leat three things which are making problems:

1. no name element
2. no sym element
3. no type element

And I also don't know if the <ele> (height) element causes any trouble, because normally it is not of interest for boating (unless you have a submarine ).

@Dave
If I would know which elements are

1. required by OCPN
2. disturbing when present

I will try to create some online transformation tool (as a webservice).

Gunther

[Netsurfer]

Originally Posted by idpnd

The display size is one of the more popular requests, its been denied so far as most people are assumed to have gps display etc nearby (I do), and the general drive is to get as much screenspace for charts as possible.

I cannot get the point .
Following your argumentation features like the Route Manager or the GRIB Viewer must not be there either.

... but you can help yourself by using an external gps data viewer

From the performance point of view, which seems to be also important for many users, I would tend to the opinion that running one program is better than running two, three or more parallel just to show the information which is already present in the first program.

It doesn't have to show up permanently, but if there would be an option to show it on a larger size ...

But let's wait and see what Dave is going to do in future versions.
I am sure, he'll find a good solution satisfying everybody.

Gunther

[Heike]

Hello,

we have found opencpn and think it is a very good and useful software.
Thanks to the developers.

But it is very hard to look at the COG and SOG in the statusbar. We assume that our eye doctor will get much money
No it isn´t as hard as it seems. But would it be possible to program thinks like NavmonPC for COG and SOG? We don´t want to work with two programs instead only with one.

Thanks
Heike

[petermoree]

Originally Posted by Heike

Hello,

we have found opencpn and think it is a very good and useful software.
Thanks to the developers.

But it is very hard to look at the COG and SOG in the statusbar. We assume that our eye doctor will get much money
No it isn´t as hard as it seems. But would it be possible to program thinks like NavmonPC for COG and SOG? We don´t want to work with two programs instead only with one.

Thanks
Heike

Use VSPE to have your GPS comport usable by many prgrams.
Then use PolaCOM for display of NMEA data (with transparant and sizable screens)
This works great together with OpenCPN

good luck

Peter

[Netsurfer]

Originally Posted by petermoree

Use VSPE ...
Then use PolarCOM ...

Originally Posted by Heike

We don´t want to work with two programs instead only with one.

*SCNR*

[olewsaa]

I see that astro navigation is in the process of being added. Really nice, I do play with the sextant now and then.

I would like route planning to be implemented. I have used Sailplanner, but it only runs under windows and uses it's own GRIB inputs it automatically download from a server they control. It is a nice tool, but a route planner module in OpenCPN would be really nice. GRIB files can already be viewed. The discussion of route planning is a complex one as the forecasts tend to be unreliable a few days ahead. Updating the route plan with new GRIB inputs is important (HF or sat. comm.)


Ole W. Saastad

[idpnd]

Originally Posted by olewsaa

It is a nice tool, but a route planner module in OpenCPN would be really nice.

Hello Ole,

wouldn't it be nice The commercial ones are really expensive, and there aren't any non-windows solutions for this. The lead developer here prefers his twin diesel, so if you want to get this going you will have to do it yourself or find someone else who's keen to do it

This guy has implemented a routing algorithm for some online sailing game, he has said he'd contribute the code before. I did prompt him a while ago but he wasn't forthcoming..

[adrungil]

First of all thanks to developers for the great software that seems getting better and better by day (downloading every beta for several months now).

My feature suggestion would be "select area to zoom" with special icon. So far zooming in/out means clicking + or - number of times with clicks on the chart to center to required place in between, which is not very productive especially with CM93 charts that take some seconds to show details for each "in-between" zoom levels before proceeding to next zoom level...