Fugawi Marine 5

[DeepFrz]

I just saw a news report the other day of some very serious problems with iMap but I don't remember where it was.

Edit (add): Apple boss 'extremely sorry' for new map app

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/st...k-apology.html

[Peter Verralls]

DeepFrz
Yes, but I think that was a bit of a media frenzy and overreaction. Some 3d modelling had some funny effects but also some places were misplaced. I think if you blindly followed the iMap it may lead to some problems in a few places in the world, especially if you drove off into an Australian desert with no water, when you were expecting to be in town with a nice bar.
As sensible yachting types I think we would not rely on one source of navigational information and be very sceptical about crossing islands, even if the Garmin 5212 said you could!
I remember following the 5212 into Oriental, on my way down the ICW, having difficulties with the bouyage system, especially seeing as it's opposite to the international convention, but then the transits (ranges) did not make sense, and then the channel was only 4 feet deep. A voice came over the VHF "You aground yet?" Followed by "Red right returning". I got back into the channel and meekly thanked the voice, in my English accent. "Red left returning in the UK and the rest of the world, and I was blindly following my American Garmin", I could have stuttered.

[Andre_Up_North]

Hello Peter

From your updated posting, it's gratifying to hear that some of your original concerns were cleared up (ex. long delay problem, & identifying routes, waypoint names with mouse point hovering). And you've noticed that the Fugawi Marine 5 build of the software is progressing with fixes / adjustments / optimizations. Eventually, all variants of the software will catch up as per their envisioned feature set (i.e. the planner software will never have live GPS data streaming in but will include advances in the interface seen in the navigation capable build of software).

Some of the items you point out like chart clarity / resolution, AIS pane sizing, methods of managing multiple items in the Data Library -- all those are on the To Do List of things to improve. The chart position / zoom level resuming on restart of the software is something that will be evaluated for inclusion on the To Do List (there are some complexities to consider). So keep updating the software frequently and those kinds of things will be fixed one by one.

The zoom + / - icons, the rotate compass icon, those need to be responsive to tablet touch screens, so it is programmatically challenging to find a way of letting the charts (seen semi-transparently underneath those controls) to be scrolled with a mouse drag. The Google Earth controls in Automatic Mode are nicely near-invisible but in the final assessment those too must become solid and have a distinct response when the mouse pointer has actuated it. Fugawi Marine 5 will continue to develop and refine how these screen controls behave, so it may get closer to your wishes in the future.

About duplicate data items naming... when Fugawi Marine 5 sees (for example) a duplicate waypoint name it will auto-append a letter (ex. "A") to the waypoint's name. When that changed name is not what you want, right-click, select Rename, change it as you will. Through long experience in managing waypoint / route data and getting lots of feedback over the years on that, Fugawi Marine 5's programming choice is to avoid identical names of data items since that creates a whole bunch of problems in another direction.

If you want to quickly wipe away all data, every waypoint, every route, every track so you can start fast with a clean slate awaiting new data imports, do this:

(1) In Windows Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and set Windows to let you see hidden folders and files.

(2) Navigate to the path C:\Users\{{your Windows ID}}\AppData\Roaming\Fugawi Marine 5 . In this folder, rename the file called FugawiMarine5.db3 ... rename it to something like {{today's date}}oldFugdata.db3.

(3) Restart the software and you will see the Data Library is empty and you may begin new imports. You could always quit the software, change the old data file name back to "FugawiMarine5.db3" and then re-use that database of waypoints, routes, tracks. Handle this as you need.

Next topic... different chart plotters, data limitations: There are indeed all sorts of little subtle things about transferring data among different GPS devices and plotters. Some plotters (older models) have a limit on waypoint names having to be just plain letters and number with a maximum of 15 characters; others have no such limit. Some icons exist in an older chart plotter of a given manufacturer but that icon no longer exists in a new chart plotter of the same manufacturer -- hence, the software just pops in a default icon since the old icon no longer matches on the new machine. There are so many variants, even a power user's head might spin to grasp it all. So at the present, we are keeping things relatively simple with some caution messages that may appear saying, essentially, "You can export that data like that". Hopefully, this can get refined and more flexible with time.

From day one, there was discussion about Fugawi Marine 5 having a way of drawing a polygon / box around a given set of waypoints on a chart and then performing operations on those (like sticking them all in one folder, hide all, change icon for all, operations like that). That is more complex to program than it sounds but is certainly possible. This feature will be further evaluated in terms of value to customer, impact on the interface, etc. So stay tuned on that feature request in the longer term.

The Tracks disappearing issue is a tough one to reproduce with a quality sample of typical track data. Further attention to this is a priority and depends on getting example data where this disappearing data phenomenon occurs. We will have to keep working on that one as more information and examples appear.

I think I've responded to most of your questions with the focus on Fugawi Marine 5, though I'm sure some bits and pieces are outstanding. Hang in there, keep enjoying the software for what it can do now and look forward to more confidence boosters in using it as further development proceeds.

--- Andre

Originally Posted by Peter Verralls

Latest Notes on Fugawi 5, sent to Fugawi/Northport.

Hoping for someone else out there to exchange experiences and work arounds with.

Some the writing below is chronological, in that I was testing, noting and retesting. I was too lazy to re-edit! I think its obvious where I have done this. Sorry . . .
Forgive my mistaken references to Voyager, should be Voyage Planner, but I can't stop myself!

I cut and pasted from Open Office and the formatting went screwy, I'll try and correct that now!

Dealing with the easy points first.

Chart Resolution
Chart resolution is disappointing for some having paid for an update from 4.5 to 5. It immediately kills any Wow factor and puts the client into a negative frame of mind. I guess its good enough for a touch tablet and I am looking at it on a larger screen. Zooming out hides the problem, but then we zoom in for making reef passes, anchoring between coral heads, etc. I may be hyper critical. It's a confidence thing. Makes it look less of a toy.
Actually I have discovered the jaggies come and go at lower zoom levels, it's not just on high zoom. Zooming in sometimes clears them up. Funny.

AIS Screen resizing
AIS screen resizes after hiding. Again, not critical to the usability. Just disconcerting and another confidence knock. One never gets a second chance to make a first impression.

Keyboard usage to Clear Data
I work with different sets of data. I need to clear the old set before I import a new set. There is no quick way to do this. I have to scroll through the waypoint, route and track data in the libraries, highlighting it and deleting it. Using Shift Control Home and Shift Control End would speed things up, or a single “Clear All Data” button, even better.

Would you like to delete associated waypoints?
Nice of it to ask! When deleting routes. But it needs a “Yes to All”. I have 50 plus routes and have to hit Yes 50+ times. It gets tedious when clearing an old data set.

Importing Exotic GPX Track Characteristics
This concerns my wish to transfer icons, route and track characteristics, colour, width, etc via gpx format. Your explanation regarding different implementations of the gpx standard, all permitted, make sense. Now I realise why sometimes my Homeport exports create error messages when imported into Google Earth. Some programs do a better job, Babel, GPSU and I think EasyGPS. Maybe you could license some code? Anything anything that makes working with Fugawi 5 easier is going to enhance its value and its popularity. Break down the barriers to purchase, facilitate the sale, reduce the learning curve, ease migration, etc. I noted that the gpx files can be examined in Notepad or XML Notepad.

Voyage Planner
As no doubt you realise Voyage Planner shares the problems of Fugawi 5. I purchased Voyager to use with my new Raymarine MFD, exporting fsh files. But now I will use Fugawi 5. Voyager has been chopped to use with the MFD so that is why tracks are not handled. (My MFD is still in the spare cabin, waiting for me to install the NMEA2000 backbone, lost heart when I realised that Raymarine still hates tracks - crazy). But Voyager also had a habit similar but not the same as Fugawi 5. When rebooted or after certain actions a blank screen is presented and the chart has to be reselected again and then zoomed in and re-centred. Very tiresome. Fugawi 5 does similar but it does not lose the chart. Almost as tiresome.
See later notes, I could not reproduce this when tried again in Fugawi 5. I have not retried Voyage Planner with the latest version of My Collection.gpx.

Last Position and Zoom (Problem gone?)
Similar to Voyage Planner, but Fugawi 5 at least remembers the chart in use. Why does Fugawi think that when I restart the program, I do not want to start from where I left off? Why do I have to recentre and zoom to get back to where I was?
This problem has gone! I cannot replicate it! I have deleted the library and imported fresh data. See also “Long Delays”.

Position of Zoom and Orientation Controls
If the zoom and orientation controls were in the same position as the incredibly popular and well used Google Earth, then at least most new customers would get a warm comfy feeling when first introduced to Fugawi 5 or Voyager. (But never introduce a TimeLine!!)

Drag to Rotate
This prompt appears when I hover over + or – to zoom in and out. Dragging does not work there.

Identifying a Route or Track on Screen
You said
“You may right click on any waypoints, route, or track on any chart and then hover your mouse pointer of the name presented for that item... and the right-click menu presents more options for that item including "Details". Select Details to see everything about the data item: that will show up in the left hand pane, the Data Library pane (assuming it is not hidden at the moment).”
It works just fine. Thank you. In Homeport I just hover over the item and a description with options pop up, less key strokes, less hidden, more intuitive, I did not need help.

Long Delays
You may be right, a corrupted or too exotic gpx file or its interpretation might cause this effect. Seems like the program thinks about it for a while and then gives up. In my Vista, the file was in the path you suggested.
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Fugawi Marine 5\FugawiMarine5.db3.
It was imported from a Garmin Homeport gpx export and could be a result of a different interpretation of gpx.
I will send the problem db3 file and send the original gpx file so you can what might have slipped through the import to db3. Then I will delete the original db3 and gpx files and rebuild the files again by re-exporting and importing it to see if the bug goes away.
I have been trying to break Fugawi 5 again. Before getting your last response I had unwittingly rebuilt the files by importing a newer data set. For the moment I cannot replicate the long delay or the resetting of the start position. Now when I first expand Waypoints I get a short delay with a black screen headed, Fugawi 5 not responding. It's a 5 second delay, not the delay I was experiencing before. And it is only there the first time I load Waypoints after starting the program, later expansions of Waypoints have no delay. I have to left click to get the black screen.
The long delay problem has gone! I cannot replicate it! I have deleted the library from within the program and imported fresh data as part of continuing work. See also “Position of Zoom and Orientation Controls”. (Errata, see also "Last Position and Zoom (Problem gone?)." Maybe some rough data got smoothed.
Yes I can replicate it, sort of. I decided to delete all the data from the Fugawi 5 and Voyage Planner Libraries internally (not by deleting the db3 files externally). When I highlighted and went to delete 1,500 or so waypoints, in Fugawi 5, nothing happened, then I impatiently left clicked the screen and it went black headed “Fugawi 5 not responding”, then I waited and clicked again and it went white and then recovered a few minutes later. When it recovered everything looked normal, except the data had gone, as expected.
I will now close the program and delete the db3 file, import fresh data and go from there.
At the same time I will see if the tracks come back, and then try and lose them again! Then I'll copy the files and send them.
Deleted the db3 file with trepidation, it was 65kB.
Went into Voyage Planner to delete the data from the libraries. Same result on waypoints, timed at 3.5 minutes before it recovered. Time to boil and egg, English style! I have a reasonably fast computer.
Went to look for a Voyage Planner db3 file in Appdata, nothing recognised. Wonder if it is sharing some files?
Exited and then rebooted computer, just in case.
No GPS attached.
Started Fugawi 5, it remembered where I was, embarrassing. Not replicating my complaint.
Transferred the latest version of my master file in gpx format, took 1.25 minutes to load. OK.
My Collection (waypoints), My Collection (routes) A and My Collection B (tracks) looks odd but I can get used to it. The input file was My Collection.gpx.
So now I'll close the program and re-open it.
It closed quickly, rebooted quickly, remembered where I was. Damn.
But tracks have gone, no My Collection B. Waypoints and routes, yes.
At this point I'll copy the gpx file and the db3 file and send to you with these notes.
Getting the boat ready to sail back to Belize for Christmas. I'll play again later.

Disappearing Tracks
Fugawi 5 imports the tracks from my gpx Homeport export file My Collection.gpx. They are there as plain as day. If I close the program and restart, My Collection B is gone, see last few lines above.


Wish List
I gather navigational data from a number of sources, from waypoints, routes and tracks that cruisers have put into Google Earth, from cruisers blogs and websites, from friends, from cruising guides and from my own varied instrumentation. This is all amalgamated into a master file where it is de-duplicated, edited, cut and joined using Garmin Homeport. Dedupliction is easily done by importing the data into Navionics PC App which does not allow duplicates, and then deleting from the master file in Homeport. From Homeport the data it is outputted to my navigational software and instrumentation.
Not all instruments and software will accept the same data. Limitations are imposed upon name length, number of waypoints, routes and tracks, number of points in each route and track. Then there are the limitations of the gpx files where the transfer of icons, track width and colour, route point and track point appearance (or not) is unpredictable.
I find the number of waypoints routes and tracks restricting, but the points allowed within routes and tracks generous. So my “work around” is to join these routes and tracks together, often with a non navigable link, to reduce their number so I can get the important information into the instrument. So several reef entrances or lagoon entrances consisting of few points my be joined by a straight line across mountains!
Anything that can simplify the above tasks is welcome.

Deduplication: Not to be as strict as Navionics PC App, but recognising duplicate names and positions on import. Allowing duplicate names with an appendage or substitution of a letter or number and allowing duplicate positions with a Yes overide.
Geographical selection: I want to draw a box on the chart and say, “export everything in that box”. Then I can limit the data to the next cruising area and still remain within the limitations of the instruments memory.
Defining Name Lengths, etc: I understand that you cannot know every make and model of GPS instrument in use. But if name lengths, number of routes, number of tracks, number of points in routes and tracks could be user defined we could set our own constraints and prevent the target instrument rendering the data gibberish. Setting if duplication allowed, how to produce unique names and how to truncate names would be good. This complication could be behind a button labelled “Advanced” for power users. GPSU allows this.

[hpeer]

I've not ordered V5 yet but will.

As for me it is a confidence builder that the Vendor (Andre Up North) hangs out here and listens to users input.

That matches my past good experiences.

Thanks.

[Andre_Up_North]

By the way, HPEER, there's a great new version of Voyage Planner being tested as a beta right now. Email Voyage Planner support so you can try out this beta version which has a number of improvements / fixes. And in Fugawi Marine 5, further enhancements have been rolling out: the software is doing more and doing it better week by week.

[hbrown01]

Thanks for your detailed input regarding Fugawi 5. I upgraded from 4.5 to 5.0 last month. It has been a disappointing experience. I shall not mention the items that you have written about, but only wish to mention a summary of my problems.

Firstly, I have used Fugawi 4.5 for several years and it has done the job quite well. It lacks certain features such as being able to bring in data for wind and depth etc. I use Navionics charts with it. The system gets AIS from a Raymarine 650. No problems there. Also, the coordinates can be taken from the AIS which is good. I also have an Airmar PB200 with NEMA 183 data via USB and, alternatively, serial to an Actisense combiner. This has worked very well.

I upgraded to Fugawi 5.0 to get the added ability to bring wind and depth into the same screen. Surprisingly, it has been flaky. I have tried on the same to laptops that run Fugawi 4.5 The GPS data from the Airmar station has never worked. The wind speed and related data from the Airmar is seen as well as the depth info form both an Echopilot and Raymarine MFD. The AIS works fine too.

However, the real issue has been the lack of stability. The Fugawi 5.0 either locks up or closes the program on a regular basis. Therefore it is not suitable for navigation. This is true on both laptops which are running Windows 7 with all the updates, 4 GB of memory and other programs off.

Therefore for me, I will need to stay with Fugawi 4.5. I am impressed with OpenCPN, but wish to have access to up to date electronic charts for Southeast Asia and Australia.

[Andre_Up_North]

There could be hope for that Airmar PB200 passing along GPS lat/long positioning data to Fugawi Marine 5. I can't confirm that instantly but I recall that in the Actisense gateway product (you mention you use Actisense, I imagine you have NGT-1) there are some settings where you can confirm which types of data are coming from a sensor like PB200 over to a computer via the NGT-1. I suggest you use the free NMEA Reader that Actisense gives you on the Actisense.com site and see if you need to check mark incoming GPS positioning data, i.e. confirm for the NGT-1 to pass along such data to the computer's Fugawi Marine 5 software. That might possibly be a fix right there; but there could be other issues to be explored. If you use something other than the NGT-1 to funnel data into the computer, then there are other vectors to troubleshoot the issue.

The stability issue is most likely do to the differences between software development history: Fug 4.5 had years to mature its low level coding for receiving data but never evolved beyond NMEA 0183. Fugawi Marine 5 is well crafted for NMEA 2000 but still adapting / evolving for some of the tricks and exceptional conditions that creep into the older NMEA 0183 configurations out there in the wild. The best thing to do is write down maybe one or two scenarios where you do particular things that always seem to lead to a lock-up / error condition. Then email that to support@fugawi.com and ask the team of support + developers to attempt to reproduce the issue(s) and then find a fix. That kind of troubleshooting is not usually solved in a day but it helps progress the software along to the point that you will eventually retire the old software and be confident with the newer version.

[hbrown01]

Thanks for the reply!
The data from the Airmar is coming through loud and clear. I see it with Fugawi 4.5, OpenCPN and, of course, with the Actisense tools. The problem is the same using the USB data output directly from the Airmar or serial 0183 data directed through the Actisense device. Really seems quite odd. When I emailed to support I got back a list of all the usual things to do regarding serial devices etc which I had already done.

Cheers,
Hal

[cruiser_pete]

Does anyone know the status of Fugawi Marine 5 ability to sync with Raymarine e-series plotters via the wifi interface?

[hbrown01]

Yes, I have been able to do the sync with my Raymarine e125. It is not always smooth, but it does work. When the PC is on the Raymarine Wifi seems to be one of the ways to get Fugawi 5 to freeze up, so I generally leave them disconnected.

[Delaware Rob]

Originally Posted by oldeguy

I have purchased the older version of Fugawi software. was not very impressed in the EZ to use or the intuitiveness of the software, plus the interfacing with GPS. Saw the new version at the boat show">Annapolis Boat show, looks much better and EZ to use...but, anyone got real hand on use of the Fugawi Marine 5?

as you know...things always look good in a show booth!

I have recently installed and have Fugawi Marine5 up and running. I had trouble installing it because my antivirus program block some things. Fugawi Tech support was great in stepping me through the installation. I thought this new program would be great when I successfully linked it wirelessly to my Raymaine c125 MFD. But found the instrument panel and GPS not functioning in the program. This the explanation from Fugawi was this:

" So for the Raymarine C125 the only functions available inside the Marine 5 would be waypoint display and route display. Unfortunately the software does not support advanced features like GPS positioning, Navigation, Tracks, Depth Sounding or Sonar from the C125 directly at the moment as this requires deeper association with Raymarine products".

Oh well, I still have my Fugawi Marine ENC up and running. I can always impress people by running the boat show demo software on Marine 5.

[Edwardj]

Originally Posted by Peter Verralls

Anyone testing Fugawi 5?
I have Raymarine and Lowrance equipment but I use Garmin Homeport to store and edit all my data. Homeport is extremely user friendly and it is the best progam for examining and manipulating data. It neatly injects my latest data set into Google Earth. I use Tallon with Google Earth to create my off-line caches. I export the data from Homeport in .gpx format to Fugawi 4.5 for navigating on a pc and through Babel to transfer the data into the Lowrance in .usr format. I then have the same data in Homeport, GE, Fugawi 4.5 and a trimmed down version in Lowrance (it has data capacity limitations). I use Franson GPSGate to reliably take my NMEA0183 data and distribute it to the various programs. I run GE, Fugawi, Raytech (reads my raster charts) and NavMon in different windows. I use GPSU and Babel for file converting.
I have yet to install my Raymarine plotter which requires .fsh files.
I recently purchased Raymarine Voyage Planner to replace Homeport because it enabled me to produce gpx, kml, usr and fsh files. It is terrible. Just not usable.
Some errors in Raymarines promo material regarding transferring tracks via Voyage Planner, reference to tracks and final destination point proximities in the Voyage Planner help files, led me to believe that Voyage Planner was a cut down version of the recently introduced Fugawi 5. I purchased Fugawi 5 in the hope that it would replace Fugawi 4.5 and Voyage Planner, produce fsh files and communicate with NMEA2000. It's just as bad as Voyage Planner. Voyage Planner is very similar to Fugawi 5, but has no GPS input. Both are from Northport Systems.
I have also tested Raytech RNS (a very bulky clunky but comprehensive package - it reads my raster charts but does not handle tracks - a Raymarine blind spot), Tiki (very neat, easy to use but limited file types), Navionics PC App (useless).
The present state of Voyage Planner and Fugawi 5 is unusable, however, Homeport was like that two years ago but improved rapidly.
Here are my first comments on Fugawi 5:-
Feedback on first trial of Fugawi 5 on Vista:-
Sometimes there is a long delay while manipulating files. Screen may go black if left mouse clicked while waiting, later a click will turn it to white but the best thing to do is to go and make a cup of tea while waiting for Fugawi 5 to come out of its stupor.
When it comes out I may find that it has lost the track library and has zoomed out to maximum and re-centred. This loss of position and zoom happens regularly.
Seems to import tracks OK but then they disappear when the program is closed down and restarted. Tracks seem volatile.
Map outline is ragged compared with Fugawi 4.5 at the same zoom level. Looks bad.
When I downloaded a gpx file from XTraverse it ignores the tracks. When I transferred from disk (the same file) tracks were included in the import.
But after closing down Fugawi 5 and restarting, the tracks are gone again!
After say, changing the screen layout, the last position is lost and the chart is fully zoomed out. So time has to be spent finding the last location by zooming and re-centering, very annoying. It should remember its last position and zoom settings and return to those after an interruption, adjustment or reboot.
AIS data box changes size when hidden and shown again.
When selecting waypoints, routes or tracks, the key strokes Shift Control Home or Shift Control End do not work. So lots of scrolling required to move or delete a long set of objects.
When importing gpx files, Fugawi 5 ignores properties such as route colour, track colour.
When trying to identify a track or route on screen it is impossible to click it and see its title or properties. So how do you identify the object?
Tried Voyage Planner too but it's hopeless. I use Fugawi 4.5 for navigating, it's far better than Fugawi 5.0.

I have used Fugawi for many years through the versions. I recently did the free upgrade to Fugawi 5 and was impressed with some of the features, however one serious flaw for me (and I made them aware of this) is routes have no magnetic heading, if you use the distance tool to get a distance and heading from your current location it is TRUE only. There are no options to get any magnetic information, confirmed by Fugawi. It is supposed to be a priority for an update according to them. I am using Fugawi ENC since magnetic heading/bearing is needed for my navigation purposes

[Edwardj]

Originally Posted by Delaware Rob

I have recently installed and have Fugawi Marine5 up and running. I had trouble installing it because my antivirus program block some things. Fugawi Tech support was great in stepping me through the installation. I thought this new program would be great when I successfully linked it wirelessly to my Raymaine c125 MFD. But found the instrument panel and GPS not functioning in the program. This the explanation from Fugawi was this:

" So for the Raymarine C125 the only functions available inside the Marine 5 would be waypoint display and route display. Unfortunately the software does not support advanced features like GPS positioning, Navigation, Tracks, Depth Sounding or Sonar from the C125 directly at the moment as this requires deeper association with Raymarine products".

Oh well, I still have my Fugawi Marine ENC up and running. I can always impress people by running the boat show demo software on Marine 5.

For me the biggest problem with Fugawi 5 when using for navigation it has no magnetic information but displays in routes the True heading between waypoints and the distance function gives you distance to an object from your location but the TRUE bearing. I made them aware they need magnetic as an option and no way to in it to get variation to get the magnetic information

[Ostinato]

Does anyone know to how to link ENC charts like OpenCPN will? I am trying to load ENC files of the Danube and I can't get a display on what's present (or missing).

[Ostinato]

The answer to my question about displaying missing ENC charts (i.e. quilting) regrettably is that there is no way to quilt the ENC charts in Fugawi like opencpn does nor are there any plans to add the feature. A Northport rep just emailed me the following: "At the moment we do not have any places to bring it [quilting] to the ENC vector charts." I believe the word "places" in this case meant "plans". In any case, the rest of his message focused on features for using Navionic charts which do not provide the same coverage for some areas of the world.