Route Planning with GRIB - Work in Progress

[maitai]

1) If you start qtVlm AND execute it in it's directory (where it finds qtvlm.exe, qtVlm.ini, boatAcc.dat and poi.dat), then you start fully loaded with previous data/configuration and such. You can probably trick openCpn by installing qtVlm in the same directory as ocpn (just a guess)

2) no, you cannot do that (jump directly to the roadbook). qtVlm is not an openCpn plugin.

[sinbad7]

maitai..

2) no, you cannot do that (jump directly to the roadbook). qtVlm is not an openCpn plugin.

Yes,you can actually start any program from within OpenCPN by using the POI facility as you can see attached. The only problem is it opens qtVlm in it´s virgin state without the previous boat/grib configurations.

The strange thing is,I have made a qtVml copy on my Desktop and when I open it from there,it comes with all the configurations.

Perhaps someone here,better versed in the Win 7 mysteries than I can give me the correct path to start qtVml from the desktop?

Is there not a way to set up a path to directly access the log area of qtVlm?

Tore

[sinbad7]

maitai..

I actually managed to open the desktop menu from within OpenCPN using a POI but then had to manually click the qtVlm icon to start the configured version of the program.

Setting up two separate windows enables you to easily switch between the two.

Tore

[rgleason]

Its amazing what you've accomplished integrating qtVML. Here's something that might help or be a distraction. Maybe you know about it. Bluewater Racing -A Tool for Long-Distance Yacht Racing and Cruising
The download is here and the documentation pages say it does Route Optimization. Page 8 describes that. It uses a scripting language for the interface.

[rgleason]

Bluewater Racing Tutorial
Bluewater Racing Tutorial

[rgleason]

I downloaded and tried Bluewater and got it working on Win7 several times. I found it to be a bit clitchy, perhaps because of grib with bad headers or something, but the error messages kept coming up and I could not close the program without shutting down the computer. It is an ambitious program, which with some more work could be very good.

I think some of the user interace could be improved to become more intuitive and easier to use. You need the tutorial step by step to get anywhere, and I found myself having to repeat motions because the route manager kept closing, etc.

OpenCPN is much kinder and friendlier in my humble opinion, but route optimizing would be a good addition sometime.

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by CarCode

I hope someone can put qtVlm and OCPN together. Sadly they use different frameworks, OCPN uses wxWidgets and qtVlm uses Qt.

qtVlm has a far better Grib functionallity than OCPN and it provides what a sailor needs: A real route planning using Grib and Polars. Furthermore it has a far better user interface than OCPN. It lacks of seamaps however.

I just took a chunk of Gshhs code from QtVlm and integarted into OCPN, it wasn't so hard ;-) Actually I spent most of the time tracking down the memory leaks. It would be a nicer world if we had Qt of course but now we have wxWidgets (wxW slogan: "Let's program like it's 1999") so let's live with it...

Anyways, I'm thinking about how to integrate better:

- Copy/paste of waypoints (or even routes?)
- Round trip import/export of routes

@maitai, any interest?

(Oh and by the way QtVlm fails to open GRIB files from theyr.com, which is a bit of a shame....)

[maitai]

It wont be too hard to improve a lot the communication between the 2 platforms. We are OK to try and improve import/export of routes and WPs, copy/paste is a good idea too.

I don't think we want to become a 100% plugin. qtVlm is a project by it's own...

We have a completely new version based on tiles for faster display on the work. We have also added kap files, but qtVlm definitly lacks of good map format (S-57, ENC) support, maybe you could help us here ?

For the grib, that's normal business, we keep integrating new, exotic gribs all the time. Send me a sample and I'll add it.

[cagney]

Jesper and Maitai

A bit of thread drift...

ZyGrib, qtVlm and now OpenCPN uses gshhs world map. This means that I have 3 copies, which is quite a waste. Double and triple files like this, will not fly with Debian, and probably not with the other big distros either.
What about agreeing on a default gshhs directory.
/usr/share/gshhs, looks like a decent location.

Thomas

[nohal]

It looks like gmt-gshhs* form Debian-GIS is even going to make it into Quantal Questions from the Debian packagers will come, no doubt

Pavel

[maitai]

Thomas,

Good idea but unfortunately for instance zygrib uses a much older version of gshhs. I don't know for O.

We are using 2.2.0

[cagney]

The low resolution version is already available in Ubuntu. Unfortunately it is dependent on gmt (/usr/bin/GMT), for some reason.
The installation ends up in

/usr/share/gmt/coast/binned_GSHHS_c.cdf

etc.
So now we know of at least 4 different programs, that uses the gshhs files.

Thomas

[JesperWe]

Pardon me guys, but I think this is a fun and important discussion that could lead to good things and it should not be tacked under a thread called "Route Planning with GRIB - Work in Progress"

This forum has too many problems with good stuff buried in the wrong thread already.

So I will simply start a new one !

[JesperWe]

Please see my comments here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ort-86443.html

[sinbad7]

maitai..

Sorry to interrupt you guys trying to improve the integration,BUT, using the Routing function,having first selected and downloaded the Grib area,I keep getting the attached message. The grib is set for 8 days and the area marcation covers the indicated route. (Own boat - POI-1)

I have adjusted the length of the route down to a day or two sailing but still the same error message. What am I doing wrong?

Tore