Gshhs High Resolution background map - copy to installation folder no longer working?

[KompetentKrew]

Hello,

Does the method of copying the gshhs high resolution background map to the appropriate installation folder no longer work, please?

I've tried the method described in the "Older OpenCPN versions" of this page and its failure to work is driving me crazy.

I ended up deleting all OpenCPN's preference files etc, using find ~/Library/ -iname '*opencpn*' -exec rm -r \{} \;, deleting OpenCPN 5.6.2 and reinstalling it. I used this to check the permissions on the high resolution basemap files on my OpenCPN 5.6.0 install.

~ $ ls -lh /Applications/Misc/OpenCPN*/Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/
/Applications/Misc/OpenCPN 5.6.0.app/Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/:
total 546640
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   3.6M  2 Aug  2014 poly-c-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   160M  2 Aug  2014 poly-f-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    32M  2 Aug  2014 poly-h-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    10M  2 Aug  2014 poly-i-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   4.9M  2 Aug  2014 poly-l-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    83K  2 Aug  2014 wdb_borders_c.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   5.8M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_borders_f.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   1.0M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_borders_h.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   406K  2 Aug  2014 wdb_borders_i.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   156K  2 Aug  2014 wdb_borders_l.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   1.5M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_rivers_c.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel    20M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_rivers_f.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   5.5M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_rivers_h.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   2.7M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_rivers_i.b
-rwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   1.7M  2 Aug  2014 wdb_rivers_l.b

/Applications/Misc/OpenCPN 5.6.2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/:
total 10504
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   3.6M 22 Apr 02:21 poly-c-1.dat
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    83K 22 Apr 02:21 wdb_borders_c.b
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   1.5M 22 Apr 02:21 wdb_rivers_c.b
~ $

Yet both versions show the same ugly background map with triangles instead of continents. I can't ignore it because I don't have any charts installed on my MacBook - I'm just using it to test the new AIS install (I don't think there is much available in the way of Mac-compatible charts for Europe).

I prefer not to use the chart downloader plug in, as I have all my charts saved on an external drive to copy them between PCs (including the opencpn-gshhs_2.2.4.orig.tar.xz basemaps), and I prefer to manage them myself.

OS X is 10.14.6

Thanks in advance for any help.

[nohal]

There is no need for this manual workflow in any recent version of OpenCPN. Simply add a folder with GSHHG data as a chart directory. Better yet, use the chart downloader plugin to do everything for you, starting with download of up to date GSHHG data.

[nohal]

And of course most of the water in and around Europe is covered either by the free IENC charts available through the chart downloader or by o-charts | Charts for OpenCPN
All of these are of course Mac compatible.

[KompetentKrew]

Do you have a URL for the free charts, so I can download them with wget, please, nohal?

The map on the page you link shows free charts in yellow, and only for the USA, Brazil, New Zealand (all of which I was already aware of) and Peru.

[nohal]

ALL the free chart we are aware of are available through the chart downloader. ALL the URLs to download them are in the free catalogs for the chart downloader you have on your machine if you use the chart downloader.
If you insist on not using the chart downloader for whichever reason, get them any other way you prefer from https://github.com/chartcatalogs/catalogs/

The free up to date GSHHG data, in case you for whichever reason can't or don't want to use the chart downloader and the catalogs it uses, are available from https://github.com/chartcatalogs/gsh...ses/tag/v2.3.7

In Europe, there are no free, legal, charts for the sea areas, only inland ENCs are available for free. The up to date navigational charts for seas, based on the official chart material from the respective HOs, can be obtained for reasonbale amount of money from o-charts | Charts for OpenCPN

[KompetentKrew]

Ok, thanks for the help, nohal. No need to make any further replies, thanks.

Hopefully someone else will see this thread who can explain why the Gshhs files I copied over aren't working.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by KompetentKrew

Hopefully someone else will see this thread who can explain why the Gshhs files I copied over aren't working.

Because you used a many years outdated procedure that applied to very old OpenCPN versions before 4.8.2.

[KompetentKrew]

Are you a developer of OpenCPN, nohal?

[nohal]

Originally Posted by KompetentKrew

Are you a developer of OpenCPN, nohal?

Yes. And by accident the one who wrote the code we are talking bout here, which made GSHHG work exactly the same way any other charts do in 4.8.2. Does it change anything?

[KompetentKrew]

Originally Posted by nohal

Yes. And by accident the one who wrote the code we are talking bout here, which made GSHHG work exactly the same way any other charts do in 4.8.2. Does it change anything?

It does. I'd be really grateful if you could explain why it doesn't work.

Does OpenCPN no longer recognise files in the /Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ directory?

Was it necessary to remove that?

Saying "use the chart downloader" isn't a helpful answer when I have a slow connection and gigabytes of charts on my USB hard drive.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by KompetentKrew

It does. I'd be really grateful if you could explain why it doesn't work.

Does OpenCPN no longer recognise files in the /Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ directory?

Was it necessary to remove that?

Saying "use the chart downloader" isn't a helpful answer when I have a slow connection and gigabytes of charts on my USB hard drive.

Please, download the up to date GSHHG dataset (The biggest file is 38MB, I am absolutely sure you will survive that), once, place it ANYWHERE, go to the Charts tab in the Toolbox and add that ANYWHERE as a chart directory. Done.
Same applies to anything you may have on that USB hard drive.

You do NOT need to use the chart downloader plugin if you don't want to.

[KompetentKrew]

Did you or didn't you remove the functionality to read the background files from the /Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ directory, please?

I assumed you weren't an OpenCPN developer because you didn't seem to know the answer to the question, and having revealed yourself of the developer of this very function you still seem not to know.

If you really did "made GSHHG work exactly the same way any other charts" then that seems like bad design, as the background should not be excluded when a chart group is selected. And it shouldn't be necessary to add the background to all your chart groups because it's not part of them - it's the background.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by KompetentKrew

Did you or didn't you remove the functionality to read the background files from the /Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ directory, please?

I assumed you weren't an OpenCPN developer because you didn't seem to know the answer to the question, and having revealed yourself of the developer of this very function you still seem not to know.

If you really did "made GSHHG work exactly the same way any other charts" then that seems like bad design, as the background should not be excluded when a chart group is selected. And it shouldn't be necessary to add the background to all your chart groups because it's not part of them - it's the background.

/Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs falls under ANYWHERE.

And you are welcome to submit a pull request fixing anything I have broken.

[KompetentKrew]

You're coming across as sulking now, refusing to answer the question because I won't do it your way.

My best guesses are either you removed the functionality, or the gshhs file format has changed and it's not working because my archive is the old file format.

But if I look at my fresh install of OpenCPN the background is showing and yet it isn't listed under Preferences > Chart Files.

So clearly your explanation is wrong - the background does not behave "exactly like any other chart".

I am someone who is capable of submitting pull requests, and who has made small contributions to open source projects in the past. I'm not a professional programmer and I find it difficult to work in unfamiliar languages, but I have done it. But in order to collaborate I need to understand how things work - I'm never going to accept "just click this button" from someone who ignores the questions being asked.

[nohal]

OK, details you want, details you get:

Crude resolution basemap is included in the installation package. By default, under macOS, installed in Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ subfolder of the application bundle.

Path to this dataset is stored in the BasemapDir configuration key in opencpn.ini. As long as it points to Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/, replacing the content of Contents/SharedSupport/gshhs/ makes OpenCPN use it. If BasemapDir points somewhere else, it is not going to be used.

In case GSHHG data is pointed to as a chart folder, it is detected and BasemapDir is changed to point to that location.

Basemap is always displayed, regardless of chart groups.

Now get up to date GSHHG dataset and use it, please.

Do I remember if your many years old GSHHS dataset does still correctly work in OpenCPN 5.6? No I do not and I will not check for you, use the up to date version.