Feature Requests

[wdkester]

Just my $.02 worth.

I would like to see marks, routes and recorded tracks treated uniformly.
They should have, as a minimum, these attributes: Name, Lat/Lon, date, and comment, and perhaps allow user designated fields.

Marks{M}, routes{R}, and recorded tracks{T} should have a uniform set of commands: show/hide all {M,R,T} on charts, show/hide individual {M,R,T} on charts, Show/hide attributes (all and Individual) on charts, Activate/Deactivate{M,R,T}, Display{M,R,T} in list form, Lock/Unlock{M,R,T} for modification (treat track as a route?), Edit{M,R,T}, Delete{M,R,T}, Delete all {M,R,T}, and Upload {M,R} to GPS, Download {M,R,T} from GPS.

And finally, since marks can easily run into the 1000's and routes/tracks into the 100's, it would be nice to have these in a directory structure.

Perhaps there is an architecture document that I've not seen where this sort of thing is discussed. So in the short term, how about adding a comment field to marks and a "delete all" for marks?

[Ptizef]

David
If That can help you ...
The "delete All way points" exists in the context menu right clicking on any mark/waypoint
The comment field for marks/waypoints is in the new 2.10 beta version to be tested
regards
Jean Pierre

[Netsurfer]

Hi,

I still would be overwhelmed if OCPN could get a split screen.
There should be a toggle icon in the toolbar to switch it on/ off.

Here are some possible icon pairs:

or


All the things that actually open in a separate window should be displayed in the right split screen.

The default display in the split screen could be the position data from the statusbar (where it is too small) and a configurable set of other available NMEA sentences (in other words a set of instruments).

Gunther

[Netsurfer]

In my opinion the ToolBox needs some revision.
Mainly because there are some options in which you'd like to change constantly while using the program. And it is not userfriendly if you have to open the ToolBox everytime, especially as always the first tab is active and not the one used last -> request.

When using OCPN on a Netbook the ToolBox Window is too high leading to 2 vertical scrollbars. Maybe it is possible to adjust the hight to the screen hight?

Chart tab:
The selection of the available chart directories is quite OK whereas the Delete Selection from the Active Chart Directories is quite confusing/ a lot of bother. Maybe this could be changed e.g. that the whole line is selected when clicking on it? Or with checkboxes in front of every entry/ line?

Gunther

[Ptizef]

Hi Dave
Sorry , I was not clear in my post #372
My idea was :
The Active route should be highlighted in the route manager list . That would allow the user to see immediately which route in the list is active .
It would be possible to do the same for active track instead of naming it "active track" in the context of the Netsufer's proposal to name tracks by the first track point timestamp
regards
Jean Pierre

[wilhelmb]

Hey

It would have been nice with some better plotting features for fishing with nets, pots, long-lines, and so on

Hotkeys to drop marks like a pole with one flag (first end of a string) and a pole with to flags (last end of a string), and for pots and other tings that are not attached, but single objects could have another mark.

A chart-plotter we use in Norway called "Olex" have this feature

If you press a hotkey, a mark is dropped, and after that you can edit the mark to be what icon you want.


Another nice feature is the extension of the light sectors with lines. If you press a button or a hotkey, all visible light sectors (sectors in the picture or a pre-defined radius) will be exstended.

Otherwise i think OpenCPN has the potensial to become a good chart-plotter

Sorry for my bad English, but i hope you understand what i am talking about.

Wilhelm

[idpnd]

Originally Posted by wilhelmb

Hey

It would have been nice with some better plotting features for fishing with nets, pots, long-lines, and so on ... If you press a hotkey, a mark is dropped, and after that you can edit the mark to be what icon you want.

The aim with opencpn is really to have a simple application for recreational boating. Having said that, you can drop marks and name them anything you like. Theres an MOB hotkey alt + space, I suppose you could then name the marks any way you like

Another nice feature is the extension of the light sectors with lines. If you press a button or a hotkey, all visible light sectors (sectors in the picture or a pre-defined radius) will be exstended.

I agree this would be a nice visual aid when spotting lighthouses etc. You could add a feature request here

[Whimsical]

Originally Posted by wilhelmb

Another nice feature is the extension of the light sectors with lines. If you press a button or a hotkey, all visible light sectors (sectors in the picture or a pre-defined radius) will be exstended.

Wilhelm

If u did this it would be nice to have the line lengths representative of the visable distance which is dependant on the hieght of the light. Not sure if it would add enough computation to slow the program or if the hieght data is available in a form that can be interpreted. It would be nice, then you can see if u should be able to see the light or not depending on the current position and not be bothered by lights that are too far away too see

Mike

[Netsurfer]

One of the things that isn't really userfriendly in OCPN is that there is no icon in the toolbar for some config settings, which a user may change often while using the program.

So I'd like to request (if possible) to make the new course + GPS icon a button to toggle between North up and Course up mode (as the icon already indicates the actual setting).

Gunther

[Netsurfer]

As Will has made all these lovely new icons I am thinking about their order in the toolbar.

Especially the ToolBox icon is misplaced as it is placed somewhere in the middle between all the other icons.

Also grouping some icons and adding a vertical separation bar between them would help to increase clearness.

BTW: The all time missing MOB icon should be placed in a prominent position.

Gunther

[ColdFusion]

Originally Posted by Netsurfer

So I'd like to request (if possible) to make the new course + GPS icon a button to toggle between North up and Course up mode (as the icon already indicates the actual setting).

A North up/Course up toggle button/icon would be V useful.

[bobmor99]

I did not read all the feature requests so apologies in advance if this has already been requested.

It would be nice if ENC charts could be "ingested" en masse as they are made known to the opencpn app - maybe as some sort of spawned background process. Or, make an option somewhere to "Ingest Uningested ENCs".

Bob M

[bdbcat]

Bobmor...
Thanks for the comment.

The idea of "bulk" ingesting the ENCs comes up periodically.

We elect not to do this for one simple reason:
SENC files are, by design, HUGE!!

Take a look at your SENC directory.
Example: Here we see US5GA24M.S57 which is 42 MBytes!

If we built SENCs for all available NOAA ENCs it would amount to many, many gigabytes of storage, most of which would never again be accessed in "normal" opencpn use (i.e. shipboard planning and navigation).

Thats not to say that browsing the world and looking at charts is not fun. I do it all the time. cm93 is a better medium for this trip, though....


Thanks for the comments
Dave

[Netsurfer]

Just a question (proposal) about the Windows installer:
Would it be possible

• to include the language selection in the installer?
• to detect if a previous version of OCPN is already installed (test if opencpn.ini exists) and if so integrate the option to make a "clean" installation (overwrite the existing ini file), or more precise: to choose between the two options (clean install <-> preserve current config)?

Thanks,
Gunther

[Ptizef]

When Course Up mode and Auto follow are selected , in a small 16/9 screen , there is very few space visible in front of the boat . Could it be possible to set the boat position near the bottom of the screen instead of in the center ?
shot attached 530-1 shows how it's currently and shot 530-2 shows how it could be
Regards
Jean Pierre