Fugawi Marine 5

[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!

[hpeer]

I think Im on 4.5. I use it as a back up to my chart plotter.

Their customer support has been really good over the years.

I don't find it that hard to use, but not that easy either.

I have used it to make my own georeferenced maps from scans, so that is a really cool feature.

As a matter of fact, I just looked a the site and I will be ordering a update to V 5.

I really appreciated the customer service support they have given me, and that complement does not come easily.

[Andre_Up_North]

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 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!

Hi Oldeguy

Fugawi Marine ENC 4.5 has pretty much the same learning curve as a lot of other software out there, it just takes some time to play with it and get used to it. If you have any specific tasks that you find tricky, send us an email to support@fugawi.com ; tell us if the issue is importing charts, or hooking up a GPS, etc... give us a few details about what you are trying to do and what seems to be not quite right. Based on that, we can guide you along to a solution. You can also phone 1-416-920-9300 Monday to Friday: we are Eastern Time zone (Toronto) so the best time range when we are not super busy is about 10am to 3pm (though you can phone earlier or later too).

Fugawi Marine 5 has some ease of use improvements and includes some ambitious new features... but we expect it will be in customer's hands in another week or so -- really exciting! Version 5 has its own learning curve but is designed with newer Windows technology in mind, so that helps people master the charting essentials nice and fast.

[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.

[hpeer]

I signed up for the release notice but have not got it yet.

Are you testing a beta version?

[Andre_Up_North]

Hi Peter. Good detailed remarks on the software, thanks. Both Raymarine Voyage Planner and the Fugawi Marine 5 are under intense active development. It sounds like you are seeing some glitches in still-new emerging software that will be fixed in future software updates. The issues you describe in terms usability / interface are understood and already on the to-do list for further software development.

The delay in rendering vector chart graphics is something that will benefit from optimizations coming in the future. And the lag time for downloaded charts from X-Traverse is a one-time thing; after a full download and automatic file conversion, the charts will be good to go from then on.

The route import situation you describe where route color and line style is not carried over is governed by the differences between standard industry wide GPX or KML data versus exotic (yet allowed) extensions some companies use to preserve all kinds of properties connected to their specific software features. Fugawi Marine 5 is looking for dependable standard GPX and KML data "tags" (by the way, you can see these semi-English data description tags in Notepad.exe). Whatever non-standard extensions are in the GPX or KML files are ignored and so you end up with lat / long points that are precise and accurately preserved, but the style / color of the route legs and points may be altered.

The tracks issue you describe in Fugawi Marine 5 is important and needs to be studied so please contact Fugawi support and we will direct you on how to send us some particular bits of data and files that related to the issue. Using those we will figure out what the issue is and fix it.

And, in general, any of the issues you see with how things are displayed and how the software behaves should be reported to support@fugawi.com so we can either tell you what is simply a known limitation of how things work or we can inform the software developers of things to be fixed. We appreciate the feedback since it goes right back into improving the software going forward.

[Peter Verralls]

We saw press releases on Fugawi 5 with release dates from from early this year, the last release date was 1st Dec, I believe. It is now mentioned as a banner on Fugawi Marine ENC GPS Navigation Software, which directs you to Fugawi Marine 5 - Home.
If you have a problem, contact Amanda Holt at amanda.holt@fugawi.com. She is very helpful and responds fast.
"Thank you for ordering the upgrade to Fugawi Marine 5. We apologise for the delay in releasing the FM 5 but we are certain that you will be happy with all the additional improvements made. There are even more improvements in the pipeline and the good news is that as a loyal Fugawi customer you are also entitled to 2 years of free upgrades to December 2014 and we will notify you whenever a new version is released."
Free upgrades? I would hope so!

[GrowleyMonster]

I used to use Fugawi, but I find the latest version of OpenCPN to be better for me. I have tried SeaClear, Global Mapper, Nobeltec, and others, but I think OpenCPN is best, currently, with Fugawi coming in second. Oh, and OpenCPN is cheaper. (FREE!)

Does the current version of Fugawi use a USB dongle for copy prevention? That would definitely be a dealbreaker for me. I have enough parasites clinging to my computer as it is, and online registration, unlocking, etc isn't practical for me, either. That is one of the big selling points of OpenCPN, for me. Since it is free, piracy is not an issue and so preventative measures that cripple the usefulness of the program are not used.

If you use Fugawi and you are considering switching, or even if you aren't, save all your routes and waypoints as a TEXT file and not binary. That will make importing your data into another program easier.

Anybody with a full featured paid app like Fugawi with a true world chart portfolio for a reasonable price might woo me away from OpenCPN, though. MIGHT.

Speaking of charts, you do know that you can download all of the US charts in vector or raster format from NOAA, and a huge collection of inland charts from the Corps of Engineers, right? If you never sail foreign, you should never have to buy a chart, other than paper charts for backup.

[Peter Verralls]

Andre, thanks for the reply.
I can now understand that different methods of implementing the features of the GPX format (supposed to be a common standard between manufactures) will create difference results as data to shared between applications and manufacturers. Icons, for example rarely make the transfer as hoped! But colours of tracks and routes I would have expected to make it. Every track and route has to have a colour, and unlike an icon which may need a lookup table, magenta is magenta (or is it purple?). Mmm. . .
The delay on rendering screens is not when I am knowingly using XTraverse. I have over 1,000 waypoints and when the program has to reference these waypoints, (maybe I expand the waypoints folder), the program has a funny five minutes (maybe ten). It is doing something, but I do not know what. At first I thought it had frozen, but is does recover (but maybe looses zoom, position and track library).
I'll study the track disappearance issue today and send support a note with my data file.
My reason for posting here was to get a few people debugging the software. On my last boat I had a Garmin 5212 at the helm, and God how I miss it. But Garmin were having left and right hand issues and did not have any planning software that would work with the 5212 and their proprietary adm files. Eventually they rushed out the much needed Homeport, which was a disaster. But 40 or so people were active in their Forum and brought the software from disaster to best in class. Now Voyage Planner or Fugawi 5 will have to be really good to get me to stop using Homeport to hold my master data file. Fugawi 4.5 is not up to it. Simply not easy to use. Identifying tracks and routes on screen, moving points, cutting tracks, joining routes and tracks, just so easy in Homeport. For $35 or so, it's a bargain. It has a good outline chart built in but it needs chart files on an SD card in the normal pc slot to get a detailed chart. It does not cache the SD card files between sessions. I simply copied my old Garmin SD card files to a new SD card and used that. It does not need an original Garmin issued SD card, it works on a simple copy. There is no locking.
While praising suppliers, I must mention Navionics and their "Freshest Data". They are the reason I decided to stick with Raymarine and not change to Garmin after a recent lightning strike. The SD card charts cover a wide area for a good price, the updates work like a charm, and Fugawi will cache the chart so that the SD card can be returned to the plotter. I also downloaded Navionics charts via XTraverse, to use in Fugawi, unfortunately the procedure to update these is confusing in Fugawi 4.5, but it works, once you make sense of the procedure and the confusing dialogue boxes. Why did I download via XTraverse after buying an SD Card? I was confused or maybe Fugawi did not cache the SD card at the time.
Incidentally an updated chart card becomes unusable in older Eagle Lowrance plotters. The UGC files upset the unit, the updated card has to be edited to have only chart files (.NV2) files on the chip. Then it works with the latest chart data, but no User Generated Content.
But I digress from my intended subject which was to promote the creation of a forum to get the software quickly up to speed. I notice OpenCPN has one on Cruisers & Sailing Forums - Announcements in Forum : OpenCPN.
OK. let me go investigate the mystery of the disappearing tracks. Hoping Fugawi has not caught the Raymarine hatred of tracks.

[Peter Verralls]

Growley, yes I think I may like OpenCPN but I sail in non US waters. I need electronic charts and there are no free charts available for Belize, Guatemala and Honduras (and places south). Someone correct me if I am wrong. So I have to pay for charts and that mean proprietary charts that OpenCPN cannot read. So if you've "gone foriegn", OpenCPN and SeaClear are not options. But take a look at Tiki, there is now a version that works with Navionics charts. You can use it 30 times before you have to pay for it, so plenty of time to break it!
TIKI Navigator
So my your fall back is my first choice, Fugawi 4.5.
SeaClear I have tried, same problem with proprietary charts, but looked promising.
Global Mapper I have not tried.
Nobeltec gave me nightmares. Over $3,000 worth of software and charts came with the boat but I dumped the lot. Crashes, not user freiendly, tied to old charts. I think my version was called Admiral 10, so now obsolete. Actually I still have it, can't find anyone to give it too!
Fugawi does not require a dongle. Fugawi 5 is activated on line, I have not tried to use it on more than one computer yet. I usually do my planning on a full blown 17 inch power hungry laptop with a 200W power supply and twenty minute battery life but change to a Netbook for sailing and get six hours out of a battery. I believe Fugawi 4.5 was licensed for more than one installation, I remember two pc's and a mobile device. I have it on the laptop and the netbook.
I used to transfer GPS data in txt and csv formats. I also tried using Excel to manipulate it, but it was a headache. Now gpx format is used by all the latest programs and I get reasonable transfers, just icons, track colours etc do not reliably cross. I believe Babel uses look up tables etc, to cross refer icons, etc between applications, GPSU may do the same. These are my fall back programs. GPSU was may main program for manipulation, editing, joining, cutting tracks, using tables, but now it is easier to do it graphically in Homeport.
Thanks for your pointers.

[GrowleyMonster]

There are a lot of charts out there that will work with OpenCPN. For instance, CM93 ed 2 will work just fine. And you can scan paper charts and convert them, though the process is not trivial. Just about anything with a KAP, GEO, BSB, etc filename extension will work. But like you, right now I would really like to find large scale charts for Belize as I would like to head that way in April.

BTW, I think a Fugawi forum would be an excellent idea. Or maybe a general ECDIS forum.

[Peter Verralls]

Growley
Yes, I have CM93 ed 2 and some Maptech charts. But they are not very good for this part of the world and they are out of date. I have been spoiled by vector charts.
I think they chart makers are using satellite imagery to update their charts, I no longer find that I sail across so many islands or anchor in the middle of the airstrip. It is still wise to reef hop with the sun high though, never in a flat light unless following an old track. Which is why I am so keen in Google Earth. Many reef passes are shown clearly in GE and give much more information in third world areas than even the latest vector charts. However, sometimes there is cloud cover on the images, the images have to be cached before the cruise and only 2Gb allowed per cache. Lorie uses her iThingsto back up my pc and instruments and if GE is clouded over, usually iMaps or whatever she uses is not. They are using different imagery.
Try to get down here before April. March to May are the best months, the northers have died down, it's still cool (comparatively) and the hurricanes and dangerous thunderstorms have yet to appear.

[GrowleyMonster]

Thanks for that, Peter. Unfortunately I am stuck in the Persian gulf until march and I want to get my ship station license and also install a bunch of electronics and replace my standing rigging which is too old to trust on the voyage so April it must be but I will be heading home before June.

I hear ya on google maps. Coincidentally I just spent a couple of hours downloading some great pics of the reef and also Northern River and Sibun River. I have lived on both and I will probably kayak up both of them and see folks I haven't seen in over 20 years. I sort of managed a farm just upriver from Bomba and I owned a farm near Freetown Sibun. Too bad I can't get my boat over the bar of either river. It would be fun to motor up them. Anyway I am gonna paste all the saved images together and calibrate them for use with OpenCPN. I bet they will work with fugawi too if u want a copy.

[Peter Verralls]

Growley
Small world. I have been in Belize for 10 years but spent most of my time on Ambergris Caye. That is where my son and his family now live and Lorie's parents too. I am from the UK but have no family there any more. Lorie is from Canada. I purchased a Gemini 105Mc in 2008, brought it down from Annapolis in July (ordered late. etc) and dodged two hurricanes and numerous thunder storms on the way down. Two years ago I passed the Gemini on to my son and purchased a blue water cruiser to go further afield, a Switch 51. However both Lorie and I have had medical problems, and Zia was struck by lightning. So our cruising dreams have not been fulfilled. Next year!
We'll be leaving the Rio Dulce on Friday, after the last of this years checkups and tests, and heading back to Belize. We will not be able to check in until after Xmas, so we will spending Christmas in Placencia or on Tobacco Caye. Once the grand children are back to school we will head back to the Rio Dulce for the very last medical checks and also pick up the last of our electronic items on back order (lightning strike), Raymarine radar and wind instruments. Then we go anywhere but here! Fix the boat as we go.
I have given up trying to make the boat perfect before we leave. We have to leave!
Let me know how you get on stitching together Google Earth images, there are programs around that will help you with that, then you'll have to calibrate. Personally, I am flying over the area I want, by making a tour and flying it, or I use Tallon to make the tour and it flies it, and then I zoom in on places of interest. Then save the cache with a name I will recognise so I can recall it is needed. The problem is knowing exactly what I put in each cache. Going to decide to go to some new place and realize I did not fly it, or maybe not zoomed on it. Time will tell.
Meanwhile Navionics charts and Fugawi 4.5, backed up by an Eagle Lowrance Chart Plotter Fish Finder, a hand held Magellan (we keep in the microwave during thunderstorms, along with the iPad and iNavx), hopefully the Raymarine mfd when I get to install it. I do not think we'll get lost! I once counted nine gps's on board in various forms, iPads, iPhones, netbooks, etc.
Which reminds me, do not discount the iPads and iPhones for navigating, Lorie's has used her iPhone while on the bow getting me into and out of some tight places. We often use the iPad in the cabin, also for anchor watch, low power and right by your ear! The apps (recommend iNavx) and the Navionics charts are very cheap, compared with Fugawi and full size Navionics. Built in GPS and compass, full colour, batteries last for hours, touch screen and 101 other daily uses! Really, really good. But Lorie has younger eyes than me! Oh, and you can navigate on Google Earth or iMaps.
I have just sent my most recent notes on Raymarine Voyager and Fugawi 5 to Northport. I may post them here.
Night

[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.