Online Google/Bing Maps to BSB/KAP

[jonturgeon]

Hi all, I am the developer of http://www.venturefarther.com. One of the features of the site is creation of Google/Bing Maps to BSB/KAP files. What this means is no software to install and you can download directly to any device/computer you choose to use (Windows/Mac/Linux/Android and iOS). If you happen to have an iPad there is a navigation app SEAiq that will make a direct call to the VentureFarther KAP engine to request a satellite KAP, no browser needed. All you need to do is create a free profile (easy and fast) and start downloading. If it is not the easiest way to create/download a KAP please let me know!

p.s. who am I? I am a cruiser like you half way around the world on a circumnavigation who decided to build a website that I always wished I could find (would be a heck of a lot easier than building one ). If you decide to check it out please take a look at the other features of the site, KAP files are only a portion of them and the features are growing just as fast as I can develop them.

Jon Turgeon

[colemj]

Good lord, this is great! I got SEAiq recently and that application is now my main one - lots better than all the others for our use and takes CM93, BSB and other charts. I had no idea it could do this.

Is there anyway to control the transparency so that the depths of the underlying chart can be seen?

Also, is there any way to turn off individual charts?

Mark

[jonturgeon]

Hi Mark, sorry but I can't answer any questions about SEAiq as I don't own an iPAd... This integration happened while we were cruising in New Caledonia, I do plan on picking one up when we fly home to visit family in a few months. I'll forward on your questions to Mark to see what he thinks, I do know he is keen on this integration.

On a slightly different subject, when you get a minute and if you want to, take a look at some of the other features of VentureFarther. Any feedback would be great.

One last thing, this integration on the VentureFarther side is not limited to a single app. If you use a different navigation app and would like this integration please let me know about it (and also the app developer would be great). And you can always download straight from VentureFarther without an app as we use the charts in OpenCPN.

Jon

[captsparky]

Hi Mark,

This is Mark, the author of SEAiq Open. Like Jon at VentureFarther, we're cruisers. We circumnavigated in our Amel SuperMaramu over the last 5 years. VentureFarther is a great project and I hope other cruisers support their efforts.

You can turn on/off display of all VentureFarther charts using the switch. You can individually remove VF charts by listing the charts and pressing edit & delete. Partially transparent satellite charts are not supported at this point. Note that there are settings under Settings / Raster that allow you to control the color of ownship to improve contrast with (usually dark) satellite charts.

fair winds, Mark

[jonturgeon]

Hi all, is it possible to add www.VentureFarther.com in the OpenCPN help files as a way to create KAP files? Not sure how this works but if it is something I could/should do just let me know. If not could you point me to who could help out? Thanks.

[nohal]

Jon...
The OpenCPN documentation is a wiki editable by anybody with an account at opencpn.org, just add it where you see it belongs and it will be part of the help file in the next version automatically.

Pavel

[jonturgeon]

Hi all, just a general announcement that VentureFarther has now served more that 10,000 kaps to cruisers and is growing more each day. Kaps are just one of the features of the site, which is still free to sign up and use.

[jonturgeon]

Hi all, VentureFarther now allows you to create multiple kaps in a single request. If you select the multi-kap option the surrounding files will be included in your download. Think of a 3x3 pile of blocks with your requested KAP in the middle. The generation engine has been upgraded to generate up to 10 files concurrently.

As a side note almost 15,000 kaps have now been created!

Now onto the next feature which will hopefully tile an area using land boundries in a single request. Should keep me busy for a few weeks

[jonturgeon]

Hey all, just released a new version of VentureFarther. The kap engine now also includes the option to use Nokia here satellite images (along with the current Google and Bing). Downloaded kaps now number over 55,000 and growing.

Is there any interest by a bored plugin developer to build a plugin for OpenCPN to get these kaps directly? I already have a api for this but no time between cruising and continuing to develop the site to do this.

[jonturgeon]

Just released an update so now there are 4 different satellite chart providers. Google, Bing, Nokia here and Esri. Any questions just let me know. Below is a link to my site.



VentureFarther