How To Make C-Maps Work in OpenCPN

[zenfunk]

OK, I finally got opencpn installed on ubuntu, but how do I install my cmap- CD?
Do I copy the files to the specified chart folder and that's it, do all the datafiles have to be in the chart folder directly or does opencpn recognize subdirectories?

Raster charts work nicely BTW.

Sorry to ask such a dumb question which, I'm sure has been answered before, but somehow I'm not keen on browsing about a hundred forum thread pages.

Thank you very much in advance,
Christian

[idpnd]

Hello Christian,

put the folder into a location, point to the root C-MAP folder (there should be some index files in there), all subdirectories should be recognised. Once you press OK, the data is processed.

Regards,

Max

[zenfunk]

Thx, will try it out when I'm back home.

Christian

[50/50]

Funnily enough, while the advice on how to do this sounds so simple it couldn't possibly go wrong, I've had it happen on Vista that nothing happen when you do that. (Well, very brief flash of what I gather was the 'ingesting' dialog, then hours and hours of nothing, ever, like for days....) Mind you, for no apparent reason, on Windows 1.3.2 this was a problem, with 1.3.4 it's not (it goes down on a whole suite of world charts like a gannet.....style like in a few minutes). -I'm a bit sketchy on how the win version works, I use linux by choice, but have tried the win versions by times...

[johan_ande]

I've discovered another issue with CM93 maps on linux. If you for some reason get the filestructure (and filenames) in lowercase OpenCPN wouldn't recognize them. OpenCPN only looks for uppercase filenames.

I've discovered this when I copied maps to my computer via a USB stick with FAT32 filesystem. At some point the case was changed to lower and I couldn't get it to work. After much struggle I found the problem and got a script that converted the whole structure (>8000 files) to uppercase.

I'm not sure if this should be considered a bug since this is the way it works. Maybe OpenCPN could look for both upper and lower case.

Regards
Johan

[idpnd]

I do think Unix-likes (POSIX) are more case-sensitive then the monopolist's prescriptions.. One should think making opencpn case-agnositc shouldn't be too hard either; this may however be down to the C-MAP index files involved?

[dacust]

Originally Posted by johan_ande

I've discovered another issue with CM93 maps on linux. If you for some reason get the filestructure (and filenames) in lowercase OpenCPN wouldn't recognize them. OpenCPN only looks for uppercase filenames.

I've discovered this when I copied maps to my computer via a USB stick with FAT32 filesystem. At some point the case was changed to lower and I couldn't get it to work. After much struggle I found the problem and got a script that converted the whole structure (>8000 files) to uppercase.

I'm not sure if this should be considered a bug since this is the way it works. Maybe OpenCPN could look for both upper and lower case.

Regards
Johan

What OS?

On Windows I am creating lower case names for rasters and it works fine. I'm guessing you are on *nix ?

If this is the case (pun intended), I gotta change my scripts and programs, unless Dave changes OpenCPN to handle lower case.

-dan

[idpnd]

As I said above, *nixes are less impressed with varying case (win progs don't care for the most part). Then again, it's super easy to change/make a script that changes the case in bash.

[PorkLoin]

Will you please expound upon what you mean when you say to "...put the folder into a location, point to the root C-MAP folder..." Specifically, "the folder" is what folder? I presume your reference to "root C-MAP folder" is the top directory of any folder containing cm93 charts. Correct?

Thanks,
svarmido

[dacust]

Originally Posted by svarmido

Will you please expound upon what you mean when you say to "...put the folder into a location, point to the root C-MAP folder..." Specifically, "the folder" is what folder? I presume your reference to "root C-MAP folder" is the top directory of any folder containing cm93 charts. Correct?

Thanks,
svarmido

You are correct about the meaning of the C-MAP root directory.

You just put your charts anywhere you want, and then in the Chart tab in OpenCPN tools, select that directory. And you only need to select the root directory. It will automatically scan all directories contained in that directory.

So, if your charts are in a directory called "cm93", and you put that in C:\mystuff\charts\cm93, then that is the directory you choose in OpenCPN.

-dan

[PorkLoin]

Thank you for the reply.

Successful using Fedora 12.

Source code: opencpn-1.3.6.tar.bz2
WxWidgets-2.8.10.tar.gz
zyGrib-3.8.6-5.1.i586.rpm from OpenSuse repository - works.

Important note: Using world charts from CMAPECS requires name of your chart directory remains "CM93".

Settings in OpenCpn: MarineersStandard, Show Soundings, Meta objects, Use Scamin, Show Aton labels, show light descriptions, and De-clutter text all selected. Show important text only de-selected. Chart Display style=paper chart, Boundaries: symbolized, Colors:4, CM93 zoom detail=5.



Grib feature enabled using high definition graphics: Does not work.

I have found that both small and capitalized letters in file names work.

Two issues remain. So, if you have an answer for me please advise. Tide and Grib feature in OpenCpn do not work when displaying cm93 charts... Have not tried other formats yet.

Thanks,
svarmido