Feature Requests

[cagney]

Now that ASCAT data is available as gribfiles, it would be great if O could read that dialect of grib 2 files. Test files here https://ftp.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/ascat_ab/.

Link thanks to David Burch/Starpath.

Thomas

[rgleason]

Advanced Scatterometer

Ascat coverage looks o be better than before, with broader coverage, but it is stlll a bit hit or miss with the striping. It may take several passes to have coverage, but hey, it is real data, but not real time, just a little later. How is one to download it in the middle of the ocean without becoming bankrupt? No doubt the situation will get better. Thanks.

https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/atmosphere/ascat/

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by DavidBurch

Same as asking for GFS, just put FV3GFS. He does not have the simulated radar parameter yet.

blank mails to gribmodels@saildocs.com, gribinfo@saildocs.com, gribnews@saildocs.com brings related notes.

Also has NAM (12-km, not 3-km) but this does not seem to be announced anywhere.

I just substituted FV3GFS instead of GFS in my email, and it worked fine, does this look right?


Thank you Pavel and Dave.



With the addition of another type selection, this should become very useful.

[rgleason]

With the addition of another type selection, and the reflectivity, as David outlined, this should become very useful.

[SandMan874]

Animated lights and beacons

Since migrating from the good old pirated TELchart to OpenCPN, there is one or two very nifty features I find myself missing. I am of course talking about the animated lights and beacons, and the extendable light sectors.

If anybody is wondering, the animated lights and beacons worked by placing a small dot at the center or base of the symbol for beacons or sector lights, and this dot would blink in the correct characteristic and colour for the light. If it was a sector light, the indicator would change colour depending on which sector of the light your ship was in.

I made a small YouTube video to illustrate how the function worked in TELchart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JteFsqopVQE&

The other feature also seen in the video is the ability to turn on or off the light sectors using a left or right mouse click. A left click turns on only the white sectors, while a right click turns on all the sectors.

And yes, I do know that OpenCPN will show the extended light sectors when hovering over a light, these disappear as soon as you move the mouse. The ability to show the sectors from more than one light at a time allows you to see how the different sectors of the lights interact with one another, especially when planning a trip in the dark.

For example, there are several places in Norway where the procedure is to steer towards a white light until you are 0,6 nm off, then steer for another light, while keeping the previous light white astern, until you are in the next lights white sector. In these kinds of situations, it can be very useful to be able to see the intersections of the sectors of each of the two lights.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. The most missed feature is definitely the animated lights and beacons. I don't know if this is something which could be implemented as a plugin, or it would need to be implemented in the core of OpenCPN.

There is a feature request in OpenCPN's trackers for this which can be found here:
https://opencpn.org/flyspray/index.p...edit&sort=desc

If like me, you miss this function, or just think it sounds useful, give the request a vote and a comment.

SandMan

[donradcliffe]

Locking a waypoint

A very useful feature I use on other charting programs would be the ability to lock and unlock a waypoint position in the properties menu. This would keep me from accidentally moving the waypoint when I am making courses.

[bcn]

Dan..

what about:

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Locking a waypoint A very useful feature I use on other charting programs would be the ability to lock and unlock a waypoint position in the properties menu. This would keep me from accidentally moving the waypoint when I am making courses.

Under Options/Display/Advanced there used to be a checkbox for "Lock waypoints unless the waypoints dialog box is visible" but it's not there in v5. Did it move? If so, where'd it go? The default for it was unchecked, but I always checked it, as I make a LOT of routes (especially for Sat2Chart). As Don points out, it's a useful feature.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Under Options/Display/Advanced there used to be a checkbox for "Lock waypoints unless the waypoints dialog box is visible" but it's not there in v5. Did it move? If so, where'd it go? The default for it was unchecked, but I always checked it, as I make a LOT of routes (especially for Sat2Chart). As Don points out, it's a useful feature.

Please look at the post above yours...

[Tupaia]

When creating a route can we have a "Show" WP name/number setting.

Currently after creating a route you have to pick each WP and tick Name.

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

When creating a route can we have a "Show" WP name/number setting.

Currently after creating a route you have to pick each WP and tick Name.

Maybe this should go in Tracker too?

But it seems more imminent.


Would it be useful to have shortcut keys to turn on/off wp locking?
It used to be that opening the WP properties box unlocked that wp. I believe this is the case.

[yachtvalhalla]

Originally Posted by rgleason

It used to be that opening the WP properties box unlocked that wp. I believe this is the case.

Actually displaying the properties of any WP in a route unlocks all of the WP in a route.


The ability to lock waypoints in a route is such a safety feature that I think it should be the default setting. It's now an option to be selected.



Terry

[Moo]

Originally Posted by yachtvalhalla

Actually displaying the properties of any WP in a route unlocks all of the WP in a route.


The ability to lock waypoints in a route is such a safety feature that I think it should be the default setting. It's now an option to be selected.



Terry

And not just the waypoint in the route having the WP properties open for any waypoint unlocks all waypoints.. This is an error surely?

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Moo

And not just the waypoint in the route. Having the WP properties open for any waypoint unlocks all waypoints. This is an error surely?

No, this is the way OpenCPN has always worked, & I, for one, like it that way. Opening each waypoint individually just to move it would be a pain in the patootie. When I make a route, I zoom out to rough it out, then turn on my KAPs & open a WP dialog so I can then go along & fine-tune any waypoints that need it. I don't want to have to open each WP individually to do that. Closing the WP dialog locks all WPs again.

I think that once you use it, you'll find it works well. Personally, I'd prefer the "Lock Waypoints unless the WP dialog box is open" switch to default to checked, but now that I've checked mine, it carries through on upgrades.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

No, this is the way OpenCPN has always worked, & I, for one, like it that way. Opening each waypoint individually just to move it would be a pain in the patootie. When I make a route, I zoom out to rough it out, then turn on my KAPs & open a WP dialog so I can then go along & fine-tune any waypoints that need it. I don't want to have to open each WP individually to do that. Closing the WP dialog locks all WPs again.

I think that once you use it, you'll find it works well. Personally, I'd prefer the "Lock Waypoints unless the WP dialog box is open" switch to default to checked, but now that I've checked mine, it carries through on upgrades.

Jon, I've been using OCPN and beta testing since before you heard of it.. so comments such as "once you use it" are pretty naive!


Now I'll try to clarify for you to understand. It is fair enough unlocking all of the waypoints in a route when editing a route but it is not a good idea to unlock every single waypoint when editing the properties of an individual waypoint.



Originally in OCPN the waypoint locking was not there it was added after comments from users such as myself that it was unsafe to have them unlocked by default leaving them open to being moved inadvertently.



You are probably right in that the feature has worked as it does since it was introduced but I had not picked up on it.



Just the other day when working with a collection of my waypoints from Chile I found one out in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific where I had presumably accidentally swiped it out there whilst doing something else. Probably before the lock feature was introduced.