OpenCPN and Noaa Charts

[BlackOak]

Yesterday I installed OpenCPN and downloaded Noaa Charts, everything works great so far, but I have one problem. The charts are not showing coastal depths, (the blue area). The white area shows just fine, what do I need to do?

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

Yesterday I installed OpenCPN and downloaded Noaa Charts, everything works great so far, but I have one problem. The charts are not showing coastal depths, (the blue area). The white area shows just fine, what do I need to do?

Use different charts. You didn't specify which charts you were looking at but generally NOAA charts don't show coastal depths on offshore charts because there is a coastal chart of the same area available. For example, if you look at 11400 (Tampa Bay to Cape San Bla) you won't see any soundings in Tampa Bay. Switch to 11412 (Tampa Bay and St. Joseph Sound) and you'll see soundings in Tampa Bay but not in the ICW or the northern part of Old Tampa Bay. 11415 (Tampa Bay Entrance) and 11416 (Tampa Bay Northern Section)will show soundings in the near-shore waters in the areas they cover. Finally, 11411 (Tampa Bay - Port Richey Tampa Bay - Clearwater Hbr) shows detailed soundings in the ICW.

Fabbian

[BlackOak]

Ok thanks!

[Bill_E]

I'm trying to start up with OpenCPN. I've used several charting programs over the years but it seems OpenCPN has a lot of flexibility and addons that can contribute.

I am running version 3.2.0 (downloaded yesterday) I was able to connect my Garmin GPS and find it so that's good. But my problem has to do with the NOAA charts. I'm in Puerto Rico so I downloaded the Coast Guard region 7 charts. That's all the way from South Carolina down to the USVI. I would like to stay with the vector ENC charts if possible. So that's what I downloaded. Unfortunately, I'm having the same problem as the OP. I don't get any inshore details. I've done a bunch of searching around and can't figure out if the ENC charts don't have inshore details and I'm going to have to download the rasters or not. Can anyone tell me?

Also, when you download a whole region, they unzip into a boatload of subdirectories. Do you have to put them all into a single subdirectory or will OpenCPN search down through the directory tree?

Thanks
Bill

[cagney]

Originally Posted by Bill_E

I'm trying to start up with OpenCPN. I've used several charting programs over the years but it seems OpenCPN has a lot of flexibility and addons that can contribute.

I am running version 3.2.0 (downloaded yesterday) I was able to connect my Garmin GPS and find it so that's good. But my problem has to do with the NOAA charts. I'm in Puerto Rico so I downloaded the Coast Guard region 7 charts. That's all the way from South Carolina down to the USVI. I would like to stay with the vector ENC charts if possible. So that's what I downloaded. Unfortunately, I'm having the same problem as the OP. I don't get any inshore details. I've done a bunch of searching around and can't figure out if the ENC charts don't have inshore details and I'm going to have to download the rasters or not. Can anyone tell me?

Also, when you download a whole region, they unzip into a boatload of subdirectories. Do you have to put them all into a single subdirectory or will OpenCPN search down through the directory tree?

Thanks
Bill

Inshore details. This is what I get from O


Is that enough with details for you?
It's all explained in the manual that comes with your installation or in the wiki over at opencpn.org.

OpenCPN searches down through the directory tree. Just use the top directory.

Thomas

[BlackOak]

I can see Cagney is using CM93 Carts. I have CM93 and NOAA charts loaded on my OpenCPN. I have them all in seperate directories as Cagney said, and I use the "wrench" and just add the directories one by one.

The thing I dont understand, is that in the CM93 charts, there are two numbers represented, sorta side by side, with one a little higher than the other. At first I thought it was high and low depths, but some are like 12/1 or 0/8 ofc without the slash mark.

If ya look at Cagney's attached 2nd photo, and look center at Cayo Largo, you will see the numbers 14/6 and just to the right 16/4 .... I say high and low tides, but some places are like 0/15, so which is it....??

[cagney]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

I can see Cagney is using CM93 Carts. I have CM93 and NOAA charts loaded on my OpenCPN. I have them all in seperate directories as Cagney said, and I use the "wrench" and just add the directories one by one.

The thing I dont understand, is that in the CM93 charts, there are two numbers represented, sorta side by side, with one a little higher than the other. At first I thought it was high and low depths, but some are like 12/1 or 0/8 ofc without the slash mark.

If ya look at Cagney's attached 2nd photo, and look center at Cayo Largo, you will see the numbers 14/6 and just to the right 16/4 .... I say high and low tides, but some places are like 0/15, so which is it....??

My chart pictures are from NOAAs vector charts (USPR56M.000 and USPR55M.00), and the numbers printed are standard NOAA depth figures. OpenCPN is using the same presentation library for all vector charts. Yes I have CM93 loaded, but look at the chart bar on the screendump. CM93 is disabled!
Please study NOAAs ChartNo1 in depth (!), before even using a chart again. 14 subscript 6 means a depth of 14.6 meters below the datum of soundings, in this case Mean Lower Low Water.

Thomas

[BlackOak]

Originally Posted by cagney

My chart pictures are from NOAAs vector charts (USPR56M.000 and USPR55M.00), and the numbers printed are standard NOAA depth figures. OpenCPN is using the same presentation library for all vector charts. Yes I have CM93 loaded, but look at the chart bar on the screendump. CM93 is disabled!
Please study NOAAs ChartNo1 in depth (!), before even using a chart again. 14 subscript 6 means a depth of 14.6 meters below the datum of soundings, in this case Mean Lower Low Water.

Thomas

Ok if ya say so, but it is explained as:
Sounding in true position
(NOAA uses upright
soundings on English unit
charts and sloping soundings
on Metric charts)

OR

Soundings which are
unreliable or taken from a
smaller scale source (NOAA
uses sloping soundings on
English unit charts and
upright soundings on Metric
charts)

I did read the pdf, so does it mean I can use a charts again?

This is my NOAA chart on left and my CM93 on right at same location.

[bobofthenorth]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

I can see Cagney is using CM93 Carts. I have CM93 and NOAA charts loaded on my OpenCPN. I have them all in seperate directories as Cagney said, and I use the "wrench" and just add the directories one by one.

The thing I dont understand, is that in the CM93 charts, there are two numbers represented, sorta side by side, with one a little higher than the other. At first I thought it was high and low depths, but some are like 12/1 or 0/8 ofc without the slash mark.

If ya look at Cagney's attached 2nd photo, and look center at Cayo Largo, you will see the numbers 14/6 and just to the right 16/4 .... I say high and low tides, but some places are like 0/15, so which is it....??

What you are seeing is feet and inches on the charts displayed. You'll note that the CM93 display greater precision while the numbers are rounded on the NOAA charts. (so 7 sub 8 off your port bow on the CM93 becomes 8 on the NOAA version) On a metric chart it would be decimals that are represented by the subscript number.