Google Earth Plugin

[nohal]

BluegillBoy,
just a note, if it's not entirely clear from the release notes. The plugin can inject the position to GE itself, so no need for GPS sharing in this scenario. Running both apps standalone side by side of course needs creating the virtual COM port to share NMEA stream.

Pavel

[BluegillBoy]

Thanks, Pavel. It's a great little tool! I played around with it last night. Works great. I did notice an abnormal number of OCPN crashes which I'm trying to track and duplicate. Haven't had it working with actual GPS input yet - all just tracking OCPN screen movement.

Stay tuned, this is going to be a good one.

[nohal]

If you find a reliable way to reproduce the crash, you get 10 points Trying to do it myself with no luck since I released the last version. Looks like a race condition when GE receives two commands at almost same time...

Pavel

[yachtvalhalla]

I am finding a position change on the chart when using the GE plugin.

Image beta&GE.jpg shows a chart position that is SE of true.
Image cpn2.3.1.jpg shows correct position.
Image maxsea.jpg also shows the correct position.

Hmmmmmm....

Terry

[nohal]

Terry...
This has nothing to do with the plugin, see the 2.4.324 beta thread for more info about CM93 cell offsets - should be working correctly in the next OpenCPN beta...

Pavel

[phiggins]

Pavel,

Great job on your plugin.

One question and I haven't read all the posts so forgive me if this has been discussed before: When you press the 'Save View as KML file' it produces a KML file with I assume the Camera coordinates, would it be possible to add the GE screen coordinates (GetPointOnTerrainFromScreenCoords) of all the corners. If I had that information I could enhance GE2KAP to automatically get the coordinates and the JPG from your plugin to produce a KAP chart.

[nohal]

Paul,
thanks a lot, I know that you know what it is to interface to GE
Not a problem to add this info to the generated KML, we just have to find a way to store it in some intelligent way. 4 waypoints with fixed names? Other geometry? Something in ExtendedData?
My opinion on automating the KAP creation without setting any limits is still the same though - I don't like it much...

Pavel

[phiggins]

Pavel,

Since my last post I've been thinking that rather than adding the screen coordinates to the KML, maybe it would be better to create a GPX file with the coordinates when the 'Save View as JPG' is pressed. The GPX file would have the same filename as the JPG but with a GPX filetype. The format would be:

<gpx version="1.1" creator="Converted from SRW by C2GPXKML.rex" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="GPX 1.1 Schema Documentation" xsi:schemaLocation="GPX 1.1 Schema Documentation http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd" xmlnspencpn="OpenCPN | Official OpenCPN Homepage">
<time>2011-04-05T07:19:07Z</time>

<wpt lat="26.982167" lon="-80.630500">
<desc>View Name</desc>
<time>2011-04-05T07:21:00Z</time>
<name>UpperLeft</name>
<sym>circle</sym>
</wpt>

<wpt lat="26.982167" lon="-80.630500">
<desc>View Name</desc>
<time>2011-04-05T07:21:00Z</time>
<name>LowerRight</name>
<sym>circle</sym>
</wpt>

</gpx>

[nohal]

OK, I will have a look at what can be done. I think there should be some limit for at least camera range as without it the result will be "interesting"... The tilt == 0 condition looks obvious.

Pavel

[phiggins]

Pavel,

I guess the format would be same as OpenCPN produces when you do and Export All. And I only need the UpperLeft and LowerRight screen coordinates. Here is the format OpenCPN produces:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<gpx version="1.1" creator="OpenCPN" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="GPX 1.1 Schema Documentation" xsi:schemaLocation="GPX 1.1 Schema Documentation http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd" xmlnspencpn="OpenCPN | Official OpenCPN Homepage">

<wpt lat="26.655389437" lon="-81.962806319">
<time>2011-04-08T12:03:45Z</time>
<name>UpperLeft</name>
<sym>triangle</sym>
<type>WPT</type>
<extensions>
<opencpn:guid>039d0000-831f-4c87-843e-911f31590000</opencpn:guid>
<opencpn:viz>1</opencpn:viz>
<opencpn:viz_name>1</opencpn:viz_name>
</extensions>
</wpt>

<wpt lat="26.604291916" lon="-81.822633116">
<time>2011-04-08T12:04:21Z</time>
<name>LowerRight</name>
<sym>triangle</sym>
<type>WPT</type>
<extensions>
<opencpn:guid>35f30000-ca69-44e3-8697-af534449ffff</opencpn:guid>
<opencpn:viz>1</opencpn:viz>
<opencpn:viz_name>1</opencpn:viz_name>
</extensions>
</wpt>
</gpx>

Thanks,

[sinbad7]

Paul..

It is possible to just save the GE plugin view as a .jpg and without moving it,activate your GE2KAP prog. which creates the .kap file. Only thing is it also saves the bottom part of the white frame.

Tore

[phiggins]

Tore,

I see what you mean, the saved JPG does have both the buttons and some other junk below it. If I used that JPG in GE2KAP, I wouldn't be able to tell where the actual GE picture ended.

Pavel, can you save just the GE picture?

Paul

[sinbad7]

Pavel/Paul

As I suggested earlier,why not use a right click drop down box for present and future facilities and leave the GE map area clean?

In this box I would like to have options like:
1. Full GE screen
2. Save to .kap
3. Save to .jpg
4. Save to .kml

The calibration is still spot on in spite of the bottom white border but it would look better without it.

Tore

[sinbad7]

Re my #191 above..

After initiating the GE plugin,place the cursor on the top frame of the GE window,press the right mouse button and pull down an inch or so. The screen goes white for a second or two before re-displaying the GE map. It is now possible to drag the display to fill the entire screen. I would suggest also to hide the OpenCPN status bar before you drag the screen up to gain access to the 'Save as .jpg' button.

Without re-sizing the GE screen,initiate your GE2KAP program which will create a .kap map of the GE display. When loaded into the map directory of OpenCPN it will fill the entire screen and if the white border at the bottom distracts you,the map is high enough to be moved downwards to cover it.

A truly great and easy way to create your harbor plans and approaches in .kap format.

Tore

[deltasig]

Congratulations on the great work so far.
Couple of things I noticed:
The tool-tips of the icons of the OpenCPN just flash on-off (they stay off) when the GE plugin is enabled.
I managed couple of times to get the GE plugin window to stay within the OpenCPN window and have the two show the same area; I don't know how I did it but I can't do it again What's the trick?