mc2bsbh - MapCal Template to BSB Template Conversion

[sinbad7]

I am in complete agreement with Dan,and as I mentioned,the OpenSeaMap based conversions are not for navigation,just a different way to view port info. Many major commercial companies are also using regular street maps as an option,and they ARE properly geo referenced. The users can add to the OpenSeaMap information as you can also do in OpenCPN. I for one,find it interesting to follow the shipping traffic via AIS,connected to direct IP feeds. In this connection,the ships KNOW the depths and it is not so important that OpenSeaMap for the moment does not show depths.

[kerrydeare]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

...I for one,find it interesting to follow the shipping traffic via AIS,connected to direct IP feeds. In this connection,the ships KNOW the depths and it is not so important that OpenSeaMap for the moment does not show depths.

The ships KNOW the depths because the charts they are using SHOW the depths. I for one find THAT interesting. Still there is no doubt that the "hobby" aspect of watching little colored triangles in distant and exotic ports can provides hours of entertainment. As they say, "different ships, different long splices."

[sinbad7]

The ships KNOW the depths because the charts they are using SHOW the depths. I for one find THAT interesting. Still there is no doubt that the "hobby" aspect of watching little colored triangles in distant and exotic ports can provides hours of entertainment. As they say, "different ships, different long splices."

After a lifetime at sea I am fully aware of my charts importance. However,the time will come my friend when all intrepid sailors 'sling their hook',at which time it is enjoyable to follow the fleet from your favourite armchair. But then again,hardened sailors from Barnegat in their 28' sloops are different. HEY HOO!!

[kerrydeare]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

After a lifetime at sea I am fully aware of my charts importance. However,the time will come my friend when all intrepid sailors 'sling their hook',at which time it is enjoyable to follow the fleet from your favourite armchair. But then again,hardened sailors from Barnegat in their 28' sloops are different. HEY HOO!!

You are of course quite correct. I have not YET spent an entire lifetime at sea, merely 57 years afloat out of 66. Nor have I wandered iendlessly upon ALL the oceans of the world, merely well over 100,000 miles, and that only in what passes for an ocean, the Atlantic. To top it off, I have only been able to do this in a mere 28 foot plastic boat. Believe me, I know my limitations and with a grave heart and an attempt at self-understanding, I accept them.

What's your excuse?

[sinbad7]

kerrydeare...

Although I beat you by 10 years,I don`t think anyones interest is served by this inane exchange,our comments speak for themselves. Have a good sail!!

[kerrydeare]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

kerrydeare ... Have a good sail!!

Thank you for your good wishes. On my end I will do all that I possibly can to achieve a "good sail," including the acquisition of appropriate nautical charts. In that vein when I attempt the farther Canadian Maritimes in Summer 2010 I will undoubtedly be in the debt of many contributors to this board who are doing the "leg work." For certain you are a member of that group and I certainly appreciate your efforts.

[dacust]

I've been getting a few hits a day on the mc2bsb page.

I wonder if some of you guys might make suggestions on improvements to my documentation (and I use the term "documentation" loosely). Or maybe someone would take a stab at a complete rewrite?

I have noticed people using other image converters. I'd like to hear comments and see examples of the commands to use them so I can include those alternatives.

And I'd like to include any other suggestions people have. Like the chartconvert GUI. I can't find any documentation or download on chartconvert except in posts in this forum and on file share sites. Nothing official. Seems to be some mystery on where this comes from.

I'd also like to include links to sites that have instructions in other languages. I think there are some at Articles in French?

-dan

[Totobeloeil]

Your documentation was fine for me.
The french article does not contain much more information. 2 things :
On Mac OS X, RasterChart2BSB works fine and seems to take many file formats in account. Does not work on any platform else.
A utility was made to automatize transformation, but it does not seem to be very interesting, as the conversion from wci to bmp remains manual.

Georef information seems to be quite the same at the end of WCI files and inside CHARTCAL.DIR . So it could be rather simple to generate a CHARTCAL.DIR after the creation of several georeferenced WCI files. Just a question of time ...

I tried nconvert (comes with xnview, already used by Marco) instead of convert, without precising the input format and with a parameter '127 colors'.
It seems to be OK to create tif files from png, bmp and jpg, except for huge files.

Jean-Pascal

[oem]

The documentation, especially the drawing of formats and programs, was fine to me too. I used 'Convert WCI to BMP', got the CHARTCAL.DIR, and then I created a script to process all my files with 'KAPGEN' and the result was as it should be.

I have some further harbour plans, quite a lot in fact, in JPG-format - they all contain a 'printed' border with 'degree, minutes, seconds' along with the grid. So it would be nice if I could just enter the reference points directly from the units on image.

Does anybody know if I can make MAPCAL use 'degree, minutes, seconds'? I couldn't find it..

[Totobeloeil]

Hi Dan,

I modified mc2bsbh to permit creation of a HDR file from a WCI file.

I also modified options management. Now, an outfile can't be specified (-o) if there is no chartname (-s).
I made this because Outfile is created each time 'convert_section' is called. So, in some cases, Outfile contained only the infos about the last chartname.

Here is the code. Not fully tested, but I did not see any regression.

Jean-Pascal

[HamishB]

Originally Posted by Totobeloeil

I modified mc2bsbh to permit creation of a HDR file from a WCI file.

curious to learn more: what's a WCI file, where does it come from, and what's inside it?


thanks,
Hamish

[jonasaberg]

WCI is Seaclears own proprietary format.

Cut&Paste from the Seaclear manual:

WCI File Format
A native file format, WCI (World Calibrated Image) is supported. It allows disk mapping and includes
world calibration data and can be created from your existing images. It generally compresses well
and allows recalibration. WCI is a palette format, allowing up to 256 colors, a maximum size of
32767 * 32767 pixels and 1Gb. MapCal can be used to create WCI files. Only palette images can be
converted. The format is best suited for large charts with not to many colors. For best result charts
shall have less than 64 colors with large spot colored areas.

Seaclears chart calibrating application MapcalII can generate WCI files for use in Seaclear.

/Jonas

[cagney]

Originally Posted by HamishB

curious to learn more: what's a WCI file, where does it come from, and what's inside it?


thanks,
Hamish

On the surface the inside is similar to a bsb file with the text at the end. But no better way than to check for yourself.
Here is a minimal ( and not very useful ) chart.
Thomas

[Totobeloeil]

Thomas,

Your post makes me think about the following...

There is one point to take care of :
Some WCI files are not calibrated. mc2bsbh beta10 can create a HDR file for those too.
I don't know how tif2bsb will work in this case.

Perhaps the final BSB chart will not be useful.
But could it be dangerous for someone who did not care ?

I'll make some tests about this.

Jean-Pascal

[r.fairman]

I use Kapgen when i run Kapgen to create a BSB I get the error message HEADER DOES NOT CONTAIN A VALID MD5 Any ideas

thanks richard fairman