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[bcn]

Enable chart outlines. To get an idea about the charts in view.
The O key ("Oooh")

Then play with details from Chart Zoom detail weighting.
At Options|Display|Advanced

And btw.: all this in the embedded manual --> the "?" tab from the tool bar.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Aliboy

...Another question. He has a Navionics chart set on a standard Navionics memory card from his previous chart plotter. Is there any simple way to get those charts into opencpn? The normal public charts should be fine anyway but I think the Navionics ones may have some extra detail.

First, Aliboy, Welcome to CF!

Actually, it IS possible to get Navionics charts into OpenCPN, but not the way you describe, & it takes a fair amount of time & internet bandwidth (& I couldn't really describe it as "simple").

• Download a free copy of SAS Planet
• Download a free copy of Sat2Chart
• Use OpenCPN to draw routes along the coast of (or around) areas you're interested in having charts for
• Export those route(s) as .gpx files, & feed them to Sat2Chart

SAS has access to MANY types of imagery, including Navionics (although we prefer CMap & satellite imagery like ArcGIS, Bing, & Google Earth). Sat2Chart can drive SAS along a route (or filling in a closed polygon) to download all the information into the SAS cache, at whatever zoom levels you're interested in (we typically use z10-18 for satellite imagery, & z10-17 for Navionics & CMap). Then Sat2Chart can tell SAS to create mbTiles for the areas downloaded, which can then be imported into OpenCPN v5.

So, a bit complicated, but certainly possible, & Sat2Chart provides extensive help, including How To videos. And I suspect that the online charts that SAS has access to are newer than what's on a chip.

[Aliboy]

Thanks guys. Will focus on getting the existing charts working properly and then have a look at the Navionics stuff. Will be back down to the boat sometime this week and will update on progress from the suggestions people have offered so far.

[bcn]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Actually, it IS possible to get Navionics charts into OpenCPN, but not the way you describe, & it takes a fair amount of time & internet bandwidth (& I couldn't really describe it as "simple")

Jon,

we should add here that you will not get the Navionics charts as you have them on a plotter: these are not vector charts.

The workflow you describe creates georeferenced screenshots from a Navionics online chart viewer, hence raster charts showing selected objects from the underlying Navionics vector material. The selection or reduction of chart objects is defined by the Navionics online chart viewer.
The resulting raster chartlets can be organized as a mbTiles set with various zoom levels.
One will neither get the information from a dedicated raster chart for a determined place nor the complete information from the original vector chart.

Same as in the case of satellite or ortho photos the resulting material will be useful in many cases and in others not.

The reason why mbTiles sets are not treated the same as raster or vector charts by OpenCPN today.

Hubert

[Hesti]

Dear all, currently I am scratching my head wrt conversion to GPX. I have push-bottoned my Seatec Nav-6 / Onwa KP-6299 into providing a long long list of GPS data. It is spitting out the data in .odf format (more than 200 pages). Now, what might be the best way forward to convert this into GPX? Help appreciated.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Hesti

Dear all, currently I am scratching my head wrt conversion to GPX. I have push-bottoned my Seatec Nav-6 / Onwa KP-6299 into providing a long long list of GPS data. It is spitting out the data in .odf format (more than 200 pages). Now, what might be the best way forward to convert this into GPX? Help appreciated.

Is it ODF or ODS format? ODS is common and there are online translators I believe.

[Hesti]

ODF it is, not ODS. I can open the .odf in Libre Office, no problem, but it seems I need GPX input for Open CPN.

[transmitterdan]

The ODF format is a word processing format. OpenCPN will not know how to read it. You might check if there are other formats your system can produce.

[tomvandyke]

I'm running Open CPN v.5 and starting to download a lot of waypoints, tracks, KAP files, etc. I'm pretty new to this so wondering if I should be creating folders within to group those files? Not seeing any dialogue box in the Route and Mark manager. Should the source files be grouped in separate folders or is it okay just to have one big folder and drop them in willy nilly into the Route and Mark manager?

[Hakan]

tomvandyke...
Waypoints and tracks can be imported by the Route & Marks manager if your files are correct formatted for "gpx". See more here:
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...e_mark_manager
You could also use your files as layers if the file format is correct:
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...manager:layers
Note in version 5.0 also persistent layers are possible:
https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/about/ver500.html


KAP files??
Usually raster charts. Handle as charts and add to OpenCPN chart folders.

[BugzyCan]

Hello all. I tried searching through this forum for an answer, but was inundated with unrelated information. Perhaps easiest to just ask again.

Installed OpenCPN on my laptop and desktop. The USA maps are free and easily viewed, but I am in Canada and need to purchase maps, which uses oeSENC to display. The o-charts maps are 20pounds to buy, which isn't hugely expensive, and it comes with two licenses, one being for your main device, and the second meant as a backup.

I installed the first license on my laptop, as that will most likely end up on my boat, but installed it on a dongle thinking I could also use it on my desktop to plan routes etc. but trying to get the map to install on desktop from the USB information is not working out. Is this even possible?

I would prefer to not have to use that second license for my desktop since that will never end up on my boat.

Can I simply copy the files from the first dongle to a second as a backup?

Are there any free Canadian charts available I can use on my desktop instead of being stuck in this "user pay" environment?

Thanks for any assistance.

[bcn]

What you call dongle is just a USB memory?


Here what we explained to a user of oeSENC today:

chart sets are linked to one individual system - one system, one license. Just putting the chart on a USB device does not change this. The chart sets will run only on the system it is assigned to. However there is a way for portable chart sets: our USB-dongle. It acts like a system on its own: you link a license to the dongle and then you can take the set to as many PCs you like. The set will be active only on the PC the dongle is plugged in. Works on all Windows and Linux systems. macOS not yet. Android does not make sense.
The dongle counts as one system in relation with the two systems allowed for one licensed set. Take into account that the license dongle is just a dongle, not a memory. So you need either to copy the charts on all target systems or use two USB ports on your PCs: one for the dongle, the other for the chart sets. Does that help?

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by tomvandyke

I'm running Open CPN v.5 and starting to download a lot of waypoints, tracks, KAP files, etc. I'm pretty new to this so wondering if I should be creating folders within to group those files? Not seeing any dialogue box in the Route and Mark manager. Should the source files be grouped in separate folders or is it okay just to have one big folder and drop them in willy nilly into the Route and Mark manager?

Tom, you generally don't want to import waypoints, tracks, or routes into your R&MM, as they'll pollute your own stuff. Put them in your Layers folder instead. Then they can't be modified accidentally, & you can turn them on/off by punching the eye icon on the left side of the Layers tab. You can put whole folders under the Layers folder, & we often do, but then you can only turn the whole folder on/off, not individual items. If you're looking for Tracks & such, our Tracks page has some you might be interested in.

KAPs are charts, which are very different. These should also be grouped into appropriate folders, mostly for performance reasons. OpenCPN performance has been getting better with every rev, but feeding it 5000 KAPs will still slow it down, especially when scrolling around. Put KAPs for a given area in a folder, or better yet, in a folder hierarchy, & then point OpenCPN to the folder(s) you're interested in now (usually just the area you're in, & the area you're going to next). Note that pointing OpenCPN at a folder with sub-folders under it will import everything under that folder.

We have our KAPs (300,000 of them) arranged by country, then area (usually islands) & sometimes have to break those areas up as well (North, South, etc) to keep the number of KAPs in each folder sane. If you're wanting to cruise SE Asia, they're on our KAP Downloads page. We ask a small donation for downloading them, as we have to pay extra to host & download these huge files.

[gabburchat]

Hello!


I am new to this forum. Please direct me to the correct thread if this is not the right location for this question.


I am part of a project using OpenCPN that is connected to an AIS. My intent is to be able to save a log of all NMEA messages received from the AIS onto my laptop running Windows 7. Is this possible through this software?



Thanks,


Gabe

[CarCode]

Yes, use VDR.