Feature Requests

[manimaul]

On second look, it looks like using the images this way would fall under acceptable use... so you could just register an api key.

Registering a key is free and takes 2 seconds.

Here is an example png/url using a key I registered:

http://maps.google.com/maps/api/stat...g&sensor=false

Will

[jpiebrig]

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for the great efforts you already made in developping OPENCPN. I have appreciated all of them but there is a big gap in the track program which works only on detailed charts.

I am an old salty dog and most of my cruising friends, and there are many,cannot even use OPENCPN because of this. Same for me .
Of course no problem for North America, Europe or other well charted areas, but for world cruising where the charts are large scale, you cannot use the track program which should have a powerful overzoom, a thinner single track, a smaller size of the boat.

Thanks for developping AIS,the beginnings of GRIB, very useful indeed, but I would appreciate if you could finalize this track program to complete OPENCPN which no doubt is one of the best open source navigation program.

Maybe am I the only one to make this request. Never mind, friends cruisers, wake up to help to finalize this track problem, giving your own point of view.

I would sincerely regret to have to use an other progran (under Windows ).
Thanks for your help and thanks in advance to OPENCPN.

jpiebrig/Jean-Pierre

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by jpiebrig

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for the great efforts you already made in developping OPENCPN. I have appreciated all of them but there is a big gap in the track program which works only on detailed charts.

I am an old salty dog and most of my cruising friends, and there are many,cannot even use OPENCPN because of this. Same for me .
Of course no problem for North America, Europe or other well charted areas, but for world cruising where the charts are large scale, you cannot use the track program which should have a powerful overzoom, a thinner single track, a smaller size of the boat.

Thanks for developping AIS,the beginnings of GRIB, very useful indeed, but I would appreciate if you could finalize this track program to complete OPENCPN which no doubt is one of the best open source navigation program.

Maybe am I the only one to make this request. Never mind, friends cruisers, wake up to help to finalize this track problem, giving your own point of view.

I would sincerely regret to have to use an other progran (under Windows ).
Thanks for your help and thanks in advance to OPENCPN.

jpiebrig/Jean-Pierre

Second that, big time! Tony

[bdbcat]

jpiebrig...

Not sure I understand the problem. Could you please try another way to describe the problem with tracks on small scale charts? Maybe some screen shots?

One point about tracks, which I failed to describe adequately....

The yellow highlight surrounding the track represents a line whose width is 1.5 mm at the equivalent compilation scale of the paper chart. So, if you were to draw a fat pencil line on the small scale paper chart, this is the width of the yellow highlight. It is intended to communicate some sense of the inherent accuracy (or lack thereof) in an overzoomed vector chart.

Put another way: Any charted feature within the yellow highlite may, in fact, be on the track-line. Example: If the yellow highlite covers an obstruction less than your draft, the chart's inherent accuracy implies that you were lucky not to hit it....

I could of course add an "expert" mode, and turn off the yellow highlite and allow unlimited overzoom. As experienced ECS users, this may be what you want. But I would rather not do this as a default, as entry-level users will blithely overzoom on cm93 and ENCs to the point of pure imagination.


Comments?
Dave

[bdbcat]

Manimaul....

Quick scan on Google Maps API Terms of Use produces the following:

You may not:

     10.2   copy, translate, modify, create a derivative work of, or publicly display any   Content or any part thereof (for example, the following are prohibited: (a)   creating server-side modification of map tiles; and (b) stitching multiple   static map images together to display a map that is larger than permitted   in the Maps APIs Documentation);
 
    10.3    pre-fetch,   cache, or store any Content, except that you may store limited amounts of Content for the purpose   of improving the performance of your Maps API Implementation if you do   so temporarily, securely, and in a manner that does not permit use of the   Content outside of the Service;

Ideas?
Dave

[GDD]

Hi

As any one made a request for custom keyboard mapping yet?

My main reason for asking is that its annoying to have to press 'shift' + '=' to get '-' for zooming out on eeepc, but it would also be nice to be able to set some keys to match the funcitons they have in my other nav programs (old nobeltec and maxsea). That way adjusting into opencpn would a lot easier.

I have no idea how difficult this would be, but thought i'd ask anyway....

cheers


george

[Viking Sailor]

Dave,

The issue here is that with GPS it is possible to follow a route/track to within about 30 feet. What is being requested is a feature that allows OpenCPN to display/follow a track with GPS accuracy independent of the accuracy of the chart. At these scales it is desirable that the size of the own ship icon approximate the true size of the vessel.*

Best regards,

Paul

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by Viking Sailor

Dave,

The issue here is that with GPS it is possible to follow a route/track to within about 30 feet. What is being requested is a feature that allows OpenCPN to display/follow a track with GPS accuracy independent of the accuracy of the chart. At these scales it is desirable that the size of the own ship icon approximate the true size of the vessel.*

Best regards,

Paul

And don't forget the anchor watch feature request. That would require to zoom in far enough to see the swing radius at anchor, no matter what chart is being used.

[manimaul]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Manimaul....
Quick scan on Google Maps API Terms of Use produces the following:
Ideas?
Dave

I'm having a hard time thinking of any excuses uhum... work arounds for those terms.

Perhaps opencpn would have to delete the cached BSB upon exit by default. (controlled by a config file boolean of course)

bool when 0 would store files in chart_dir/custom/cache
bool when 1 would store files in chart_dir/custom/

chart_dir/custom/cache would be purged when opencpn exits
also, for full api compliance, bsbs stored in cache dir could be md5 hashed

This way people who like to choose their own destiny in these matters don't have their previosly saved files deleted if boolean accidentally changes.

Hmmm... I'll try to think of a better solution as instant, high-res sat-photo charts would be supremely radical.

Will

[manimaul]

Another option would be to have people supply their own api key in the config dialog to enable feature. (Anyone can register as many api keys as they want anyhow.)

And finally, option 3: Adhere to the spirit of the law and not the letter. We could just do it anyway. Does anyone actually read every jot and tiddle of every EULA?

[bdbcat]

Manimaul....

 9.5 Responsibility for Breaches.  You agree that you are   solely responsible for (and
 that Google has no responsibility to you or to   any third party for) any breach of
 your obligations under the Terms and for   the consequences (including any loss
 or damage which Google may suffer) of   any such breach.

I think they may be talking about me personally here....Or if I was a lawyer, I would certainly be talking about the coder that enabled such a breach.

Sigh.....

Still thinking....
Dave

[jpiebrig]

Dave,

Here is an example with a 1:150 000 chart. It is the most detail chart I have found for this place, I don't think there is a better one, there are a lot of shoals, corals and rocks and a lot of cruisers are sailing there. It is quite impossible to navigate here when the conditions are not good, cloudy sky, sun in the eyes, night, etc. We absolutly need a very performant track function.

Look at the first screenshot : Opencpn zoom 5x, the maximum we can do. The yellow hightlight cover the red line and it is impossible to see it sometimes. The shape of the boat is longer than the small island (nearly 400 yards !) and its width is the same as the island (about 250 yards). It is not clear, it is confused.
I won't go sailing there in these conditions, it is impossible to follow the track



Now look at this picture with quite the same scale (overzoom 191%) and at the others. I don't change the position of the boat for all them. There is only one small red line, no highlight, the shape of the boat is smaller, you can clearly see anything. But neither I would go sailing there in these conditions, I cannot follw safely the track.




But I can zoom much more (overzoom 937%) :



And more (1210000 %) (but then the chart automatically switch to a world chart 1:48 400 000, I don't know why) :



And then the maximum overzoom ( 19360000 %), and now, if I take all the necessary precautions, slow speed, a good watch, etc., I can safely follow the track and I will see if I am going away more than 4/6 yards from it:



I hope that it will be enough for you to understand what I was meaning (not always easy to explain what I want in a foreign language ). I understand that it could be an option in Opencpn.

Without such efficient function, no possibility of sailing in numerous conditions.

jpiebrig/Jean-Pierre

[idpnd]

NB that gps has just become much more efficient in the EU region

Perhaps overzoom could be permitted with a special warning symbol / colour..

[cagney]

jpiebrig
Check this post http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...&postcount=193
for more on this.
I have done a lot of navigation in circumstances you describe, without a gps. I've been i situations where the distance between coral heads is similar to my beam (sure a bit crazy, but I like to explore lagoons). Even with a gps and a chart-plotter on board, I would still keep my eyes firmly on the water. There are circumstances where technical gadgets can't replace eyeball navigation.

Thomas

[jfch]

see the #117 (jpiebrig) and #28 (jfch)

Why one large yellow track ?
only one thin red line as others programs (scannav, seaclear ...) is better.

Jean François C

Ubuntu 9.04 // opencpn 133 build 929