Raster Charts BSB3 Sweden and Finland

[Gilletarom]

Hello Anyone,

I am looking for information about raster charts BSB3 Sweden and Finland, which are accessible with OpenCPN.

The "opencpn.org" site indicates that the Swedish site "soltek.se" dispose of used charts.
Walking through translation by google this site, I have not been able to find usable by OpenCPN charts.

Can anyone help me?

Thank by advance. Gilletarom

[barnakiel]

We have BSB Swedish charts, but I cannot tell you anything about whether they are BSB3 or anything else. They look identical with NV Charts available online. These are copies of Swedish coastal cruising folios. Very good stuff.

No idea about Finland though.

Cheers,
b.

[Hakan]

Gille...
My Swedish raster charts are .kap and looks like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5209364/931_1.kap
(The link is not available for ever. Pls tell me when you're done)
Soltek.se sell them on CDs. I suppose the German NV-site has the same. The same navigational information is also in the CM93s even though they are not the latest issue.
BTW, I'm moored here: 58 05.5607 N 011 43.8621 E Welcome
Håkan

[Gilletarom]

Hello Barnakiel, Hello Hakan,

Thank you for your answers.

Hakan your chart appears good. Have you a link to load them on the internet or is it of charts pirated?

Actually, my goal is to be able to talk site "soltek.se" in the tutorial in French "opencpn.shoreline.fr" that I manage.

So I need you to give me precise details, very specific on what is said in the Swedish website. With links to the right page, or to the right pages, which speak displayable charts by OpenCPN.

So I can document the shoreline.fr website

Thank by advance. Gilletarom.

[Hakan]

Gille...
First; No this chart is from my own bought CD so I shouldn't publish and will take away the link now. And also are my charts very dated so the information in a CM93 from 2011 is newer.
Second; I'm a bit busy for now, will come back to your other q's

Håkan

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Gille...
My Swedish raster charts are .kap and looks like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5209364/931_1.kap
(The link is not available for ever. Pls tell me when you're done)
Soltek.se sell them on CDs. I suppose the German NV-site has the same. The same navigational information is also in the CM93s even though they are not the latest issue.
BTW, I'm moored here: 58 05.5607 N 011 43.8621 E Welcome
Håkan

I'm also interested in this question.

I used the CM93 charts (not for navigation!) last summer in the Baltic, and found them to be almost identical to the up-to-the-minute updated Navionics charts on my main nav system.

They were surprisingly good for vector charts, but for OpenCPN using a large screen and for planning purposes, one really wants raster charts. I am thinking about the NV Charts, but for a large area they are prohibitively expense. I will be transiting the Baltic from one end to the other, entering the Kiel Canal at the beginning of May, and spending the summer in East Finland.

I'll have a look at soltek.se, and will watch eagerly for any other answers to the OP's question.


The very model for distribution of raster charts is Visitmyharbour.com -- a small company based right here in Cowes where I am now. They sell fully updated and officially "for navigation" raster charts of the entire UK plus Belgium and Netherlands for 60 pounds -- more than 1000 charts. With a year of free updates. They also sell cheaply or give away tons and tons and tons of other extremely useful navigation and pilotage information -- this company is an absolutely fantastic resource. Unfortunately! They are only slowly expanding their coverage, and haven't gotten to the Baltic yet.

This is so different from NV and others who still sell only small areas at a time, and for 200 euros each, which is no good for long-distance cruisers like me who cover a lot of distance. It would cost thousands to cover the whole Baltic.

[barnakiel]

The BSB we have for Sweden are exactly as the folios. Again, exactly what NV sells now. When you buy the paper folio you get the CD included. Or at least that was like it when we bought or West Indies kit some time back.

When I am back from the beach (I am writing this post surfing my board in Canary Islands) I will try to dump the screen for your location and send it on to you so that you can get a glimpse.

b.

[cagney]

The Swedish site Svenska Solsidan sells official Swedish and Finnish BSB3 charts. They are available as CD:s for different areas. It's also possible to by individual Swedish charts. These charts are updated yearly. On the CDs there is an installation program for the charts. This program is Windows only. If you're on Linux or Mac contact Soltek before buying.
The Swedish charts are easy to use. All text info are in both Swedish and English. I have no information in this regard about the current Finnish charts.

OpenCPN has previously had some difficulties with Swedish charts. No known problems exists at this time. Not with the older Swedish charts, nor with the current batch.

Unfortunately it's not easy for non Swedish speakers to access the soltek.se.
I tried with Google translate, but got stuck. Maybe this is due to the old fashion frame design of the website.
I have extracted the addresses of a few web pages.
The Swedish CD sets
http://www.soltek.se/db/cgi-bin/db.p...=db_lista.html
Individual Swedish charts:
http://www.soltek.se/db/cgi-bin/db.p...=db_lista.html
Finnish CDs
http://www.soltek.se/db/cgi-bin/db.p...=db_lista.html

I don't think that Soltek realizes the international interest in their charts and the need to update their website to make it accessible for non Swedish speakers.
The only way I can think of is to mail goran@soltek.se and ask for information.

Thomas

[bcn]

If I got it right each CD covering some region is 895skr or aprox. 95€
Finland are three, Schweden some more. Not really a bargain....

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by bcn

If I got it right each CD covering some region is 895skr or aprox. 95€
Finland are three, Schweden some more. Not really a bargain....

Entire Sweden is 1195 krona or about 130 euros -- that's actually not too bad. Much cheaper than NV and a wider area than they sell at one go.

You need two for Finland excluding the Gulf of Bothnia for 895 each. That's actually not all that bad.

[barnakiel]

So this is the screen dump for Håkan. As you can see, identical with Swedish paper leisure folios that you probably have onbaord already.

NV native software is much better at graphic representation of the data. Also their App shows the files way cleaner (but their App does lag behind third party software in functionality too).

I hope this helps.

PS You can scan your paper folios and BSB 'em. Or buy the charts online, whichever suits your likes and budget best.

Cheers,
b.

[Lars_L]

The charts from Finland are a long way of quality from those from Sweden or Germany. For example, on their detail charts they have market shallow water in a yellow colour, but they have the same colour for all deeps that’s less than 10 meters! I spooked with a person on Aland how said that there chart are accurate in the middle of the fairway. Outside of the fairway there are large areas that isn’t measured at all.

The Russian military have probably the best existing chart over Finland, but I have not seen them out on the market yet.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Lars_L

The charts from Finland are a long way of quality from those from Sweden or Germany. . . . I spooked with a person on Aland how said that there chart are accurate in the middle of the fairway. Outside of the fairway there are large areas that isn’t measured at all. . .

I am here to tell you that this is definitely true. I have seen with my own eyes a giant rock awash in a place where the chart showed 10 meters of water, and I hit an uncharted rock once, fortunately at very low speed.

Finnish waters are hardly surveyed outside the areas navigable by ships.

You have to be bloody careful.

The bottom is crazy -- often going from 50 meters depth to 3 meters and back in a few meters of distance. The bottom must be like the surface of the moon. No wonder it's not surveyed -- it's just far too complex.

[cagney]

Originally Posted by Lars_L

The charts from Finland are a long way of quality from those from Sweden or Germany. For example, on their detail charts they have market shallow water in a yellow colour, but they have the same colour for all deeps that’s less than 10 meters! I spooked with a person on Aland how said that there chart are accurate in the middle of the fairway. Outside of the fairway there are large areas that isn’t measured at all.

The Russian military have probably the best existing chart over Finland, but I have not seen them out on the market yet.

This is partly misleading. All Finnish charts with yellow for shallow water are outdated, and replaced with so called "Blue Charts". The Blue charts are all WGS84. Compare these two pictures:




More info here Sjoekort < Uppslagsverket < TWiki

I don't know if the "Blue Charts" contains any major survey updates.

Thomas

[bcn]

additional information here:
http://portal.liikennevirasto.fi/por...2015_netti.pdf