OpenCPN Version 5 Beta Release 4.99.1426

[pinguino]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Gilletarom...
I have studied some of the MBTiles whose links you have provided. Thanks for the links.


Some points:
1. Some of these high zoom files are completely impractical for actual use, I think. The zoomLevel19 files are gigantic. For example, we see one file with all of Italy at zoom 19. Its size is 1.2 GigaByte. Handling a single SQL database of this size at runtime, with dynamic access, is not, in my opinion, very practical for OCPN.



2. I can find no viewer that will even open these large files for an inspection.


3. So I ask:
a. Where do these files come from?
b. Is there a simple viewer that works on the large files?
c. Is there any other navigation application that can use these files?
d. Do navigators actually use these tilesets?


4. The more moderate scale tilesets also have some small problems with display on OCPN. Probably could be corrected, but I still wonder: "What is the real point here?"


Thanks
Dave

Mbtiles have been in my opinion one of the best advances in opencpn as it allows us to create our own maps from various sources.

I have always used maps created by myself and I have sailed more safely using them in combination with the official charts than if I had only used the official cartography.

As a main user of the Rpi I have learned a couple of important things regarding the MBTiles. The first tip is that the zoom levels have to be very specific before creating the maps. z17 is enough for coastal navigation and you can use a z18 for harbour areas only. Above that zoom level the information relevant to navigation is barely present and the problems grow exponentially.

The second thing is that it is much better for oprncpn to create small separate databases than a huge one.

For example, in Balearic islands I am more suitable to create an individual file for each island than one that encompasses the entire archipelago.

Regarding which is the point.... the point is to increase our safety sailing and the MBTiles do it in my opinion. I have no doubt about it.

PD. A trick that I use in the Rpi to avoid failures is to do the pan and scan with the CM93 and pass to MBTiles later to see the details since I have verified that the pan and scan directly on MBTiles makes the Rpi to be frozen easily.

[bdbcat]

Stelian...


re:
"It becomes usable on my hires display if I set the slider at 5."


Will you post a screenshot to demonstrate this?


Thanks
Dave

[bdbcat]

Regarding MBTiles...


"Regarding which is the point.... the point is to increase our safety sailing and the MBTiles do it in my opinion. I have no doubt about it."


And there, of course, is the point...


Thoughtful, careful creation of MBtiles tilesets for specific purposes (photo overlays in poorly charted areas, topographical maps, etc) is the best use of MBtiles, IMHO. As noted, manageable db size and proper zoom level selection is the key to usability on OpenCPN. I look forward to reviewing the work of Paul and Terry in this regard.


However, display of huge tilesets containing large scale detail of questionable cartography is much less interesting to me, so won't get much further attention for O5.


In summary, I prefer to consider MBtiles tilesets as supplemental overlays to enhance navigational awareness and safety. They can even be entertaining. But they should not be considered as primary cartography for navigation. This will be the direction for OpenCPN v5.


Finally, and philosophically, let us keep in mind:
OpenCPN is like a record player. Play whatever record you want. If you don't like the music, change the record.



Thanks
Dave

[stelian]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Stelian...


re:
"It becomes usable on my hires display if I set the slider at 5."


Will you post a screenshot to demonstrate this?


Thanks
Dave

Sure, here you are. Remember that although the image sizes are 3200x1800, the physical size is around 30cm x 17cm....


The bouys/lights are way too small at scale 0, the sounding are almost unreadable. Tides are ok, currents are a bit too big.


At scale 5, buoys/lights/sounding are ok, tides and currents are too big...

[Ben S]

Rotation plugin still "red" for V5

@Dave
Would it be a big work to add Heading Up tot the Navigation Mode?


Thanks

Ben

[bdbcat]

Stelian....


Thanks for the pix. Food for thought.
Seems like scale=5 could be amplified a bit more, and of course fix the tides/currents.
Agree?


It is not going to be practical to make the buoys/lights render well at scale=0 for HiRes displays in the short term. We would need an entirely new set of raster symbols to avoid pixel artifacts. And that is a big piece of artistic design work, not accomplished overnight. Or a well designed set of scalable vector symbols, also a big project.



Dave

[rgleason]

We have not been able to keep up with the updated to the 5 Plugins html page
Find it here on Sean's website. Use the green check pick the appveyor then pick the artifacts tab to find the download.

https://github.com/seandepagnier/rot...commits/master

[Gilletarom]

Hello Dave, All,


I did not invent it. But the community yes!


Gilletarom.

[stelian]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Stelian....

Thanks for the pix. Food for thought.
Seems like scale=5 could be amplified a bit more, and of course fix the tides/currents.
Agree?

Agreed.

Originally Posted by bdbcat

It is not going to be practical to make the buoys/lights render well at scale=0 for HiRes displays in the short term. We would need an entirely new set of raster symbols to avoid pixel artifacts. And that is a big piece of artistic design work, not accomplished overnight. Or a well designed set of scalable vector symbols, also a big project.

I understand...


Stelian.

[Karanga]

Originally Posted by Gilletarom

Hello Dave, All,


I did not invent it. But the community yes!


Gilletarom.

Ok, so I have got colour-envy!

Looking at this screenshot, shows the menu with icon buttons of glorious colour.

How do I get colour?
My menu has icons that are grey/white only (except the MOB). Currently v 4.99.1408.

Perhaps this is the reason I can't see the buttons easily when in night mode...

[bdbcat]

Karanga....


We will see better night color icon shades in the next Beta.


Otherwise, O5 production version will include the black/white toolbar icons as you see in the current Beta.



Dave

[houlejm]

"About OpenCPN"

I love the new look.
I love the fact that it can open directly the configuration and log files.
And the "Help" opens in a simple browser.
Just one small problem quotes do not show correctly. See screen captures. Firefox is OK. Samples are from Ubuntu but it is the same in Windows 10

Thanks
Jean-Marie

[P_Dub]

Originally Posted by Gilletarom

Hello Dave, All,
I did not invent it. But the community yes!
Gilletarom.

I like the colour, much more than black. could we have a copy of it?
s'il-vous-plait!

[bdbcat]

Stelian...
You may like to try this build to see if the HiRes scaling is improved.


https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjob...9c7b_setup.exe


Thanks
Dave

[nohal]

Originally Posted by houlejm

"About OpenCPN"

I love the new look.
I love the fact that it can open directly the configuration and log files.
And the "Help" opens in a simple browser.
Just one small problem quotes do not show correctly. See screen captures. Firefox is OK. Samples are from Ubuntu but it is the same in Windows 10

Thanks
Jean-Marie

This is known and will have to be fixed in the help content for now as there is no reasonable way to use the more advanced wxWebView widget to display the help and support old enough Linux distributions at the same time.

Pavel