Help / FAQ

[teneicm]

What area does chart 25640_1 cover? Not certain if OpenCPN has the ability to use charts that are zipped. Unzip the other folder and see if that helps.

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

I have just installed OpenCPN and downloaded 2 charts but all I seem to get is a black background with a blue outline of the land with no chart details.

Two mistakes there:

1. You can't activate the .zip file, OpenCPN needs the charts unpacked from the zip into a separate folder.

2. When activating charts don't select the chart file itself (the .kap file). Select the folder that the .kap file is located in.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by JesperWe

Two mistakes there:

1. You can't activate the .zip file, OpenCPN needs the charts unpacked from the zip into a separate folder.

2. When activating charts don't select the chart file itself (the .kap file). Select the folder that the .kap file is located in.

Thanks for the prompt response JesperWe - thought it would be something simple like this - I will give it another go.

[BluegillBoy]

If your charts also cover only a small area you may have to zoom in on the actual area they're covering to see them. To avoid that in the future it's good to set your vessel location to that area as well until you get your gps set up.

[PjotrC]

I am using NASA AIS Engine 3 to multiplex GPS data from a Garmin 72H into AIS sentence stream. The resulting stream is fed into Shared AIS&GPS input.
With many targets around, GPS seems to lose the fix for a couple of seconds every couple of minutes, then restarts OK, but it is annoying enough.
I have seen something like "GPS Watchdog Timeout: 6 sec" in the log, but I do not see where to set (increase it). Is this a settable parameter?

Thanks for hints.

Piotr
Port Louis, Mauritius

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by PjotrC

I have seen something like "GPS Watchdog Timeout: 6 sec" in the log, but I do not see where to set (increase it). Is this a settable parameter?

Yes it is:

[Settings]
GPSDogTimeout=<seconds>

But not getting any GPS data in 6 seconds?? Sounds like there is something else wrong...

[BluegillBoy]

i'm not the most technical type, so don't take this as absolute fact but rather a place to stat looking.

The issue might be revealed by the issue only happening when there are many AIS targets around.
In a busy environment, I've seen AIS lose targets and then reaquire, which seems like it's just too busy a data input environment given the relatively slow polling speed AIS uses. And there can be a lot more AIS data coming in than
GPS.

So when multiplexing AIS data with GPS, the latter might get overwhelmed or omitted sometimes in the data stream.

You might try using separate ports for GPS and AIS and see if that keeps the GPS fix. I'd consider the GPS a priority over AIS myself.

[PjotrC]

Originally Posted by JesperWe

Yes it is:

[Settings]
GPSDogTimeout=<seconds>

But not getting any GPS data in 6 seconds?? Sounds like there is something else wrong...

Thanks, I've increased the timeout and it seems to work better now. We'll see...

@BlueGillBoy:

The reason I am not separating the GPS and AIS streams is that I do not want more than 1 RS232-USB converter at a time - just gut feeling. The many nav notebooks on board have either very few USB ports or a single RS232 port, and I do not want to reconfigure the setup every time we switch a machine, so it all suggests a single-stream setup. At the speeds involved the real-time fix is not too important every second...

Cheers,

Piotr

[glywn380]

I think I first posted this on the wrong thread, so here goes again. I wonder if anyone can tell me how to insert an existing waypoint (one already created) into an existing route as in Mapsource, where, when in route properties showing the list of waypoints in the route there is a button for "insert waypoint", which when pressed opens another dialog box showing all the waypoints in the .gpx file that is currently loaded. Is this available or should this be a future request?

[HappySeagull]

Originally Posted by glywn380

I think I first posted this on the wrong thread, so here goes again. I wonder if anyone can tell me how to insert an existing waypoint (one already created) into an existing route as in Mapsource, where, when in route properties showing the list of waypoints in the route there is a button for "insert waypoint", which when pressed opens another dialog box showing all the waypoints in the .gpx file that is currently loaded. Is this available or should this be a future request?

glywyn,

manual page is here...Marks and Routes | Official OpenCPN Homepage, about halfway down.

I'm using a new beta on the laptop I have here and maybe it's premature but I'm hoping you are in version 3 at least...so some of the following may help you,somehow!

I just place my mouse cursor on the route (the info box will highlight+hover when you are near enough)... where I want to insert a waypoint and then "Right-Click" on the mouse. Then I choose Route and then "insert waypoint" or, In this newest Beta, it's simplified to just choose "insert waypoint"

If you don't get the inserted waypoint exactly where you want it,(and maybe your waypoints are locked in the Toolbox settings as mine are) no fear-just double-click it and it will be moveable. In fact with any one waypoint "moveable", they ALL will be moveable.

[glywn380]

HappySeagull, thanks for the reply. Yes I am on the latest beta too (3.1.1105) and already got that insert option figured out as well as the locked/moveable waypoint bit. What I was asking was, is it possible when you go for the "insert waypoint" on the route right click menu or when looking at the route properties from the route manager page, to be able to insert an already stored waypoint form my list of waypoints rather than creating a new waypoint each time? In the first instance; (right click on route) a sub menu from the "insert waypoint" selection of "new" or "stored" with the first dropping a new waypoint and the second opening the stored waypoint list, and in the second instance; when you highlight a waypoint in the route, an extra option on the right click menu of insert waypoint (which already allows has waypoint properties, remove selected and copy all as text) leading to the sub menu as per instance 1, with maybe even an option of before or after coming too. I realise this is a long winded response but couldn't get it out in shorter words.

[HappySeagull]

Well, no.Frankly, I wouldn't agree it's needed.
I have an old version of Mapsource too, so I think I know what you mean as to its methods...My argument to you is if the mapsource way is easier than O's...IE: Keep a saved list of waypoints as a gpx and then load em on screen in O to include in a new drawn route,(easiest) , editingan inserted waypoint in its properties dialogue or edit the exported route with a text editor.
There's 3 ways to do it already... and not including: "Hide" the old route and make a corrected portion or entire alternative route on the fly. ....

[glywn380]

OK got that thanks, but I may have not explained it properly. If I want add a waypoint into a route I already have saved, but want to go to specific waypoint already save, it does not allow that. I have to insert a new waypoint and drag it over the existing waypoint and then edit the waypoint details to get an exact copy, but it still gives me two waypoints not one. If I am constructing a route and want to add a waypoint and drop it near an existing one, there is the option "use nearby waypoint" and it uses that existing one instead of creating another that then has to be edited. I would just like to see the same functionality in the "add waypoint to route" scenario. The list of your waypoints is already loaded into "O" (assuming you keep your databases matched), so this would reduce clutter and duplication I think.

[glywn380]

As they say, a picture tells a thousand words. In the sequence (Chart 1 to 5), Chart 1 shows a section of an existing route from Turn to 002. I now wish to go to dive site Example so I insert a waypoint on the route between Turn and 002 (Chart 2), I then drag the new point to over Example (Chart 3), Chart 4 shows the point NM003 at the point with Example still underneath Chart 5) - I think messy if there is an available waypoint already there - no?

[cagney]

What about....
Deactivate your route. Right-click the existing wpt, press "Navigate to this", and you have an instant route from your present position to the existing mark.

Thomas