Using Opencpn & GE tiles for canals in France ? on klm

[chouliha]

Hi Guys

First thanks again for all you do to help the yachties with opencpn. I have been using it for the past 15+ years and it never ceases to astound me. You guys Rock!

Recently sold our sailboat and purchased a canal boat in southern France. I am creating mbtiles of the canals to be used in my OpenCPN program and so far it works really well

The Dutch barge association produces a klm file to be used in GE or maps.me with information on each canal. I have imported this into maps.me

Question is it possible to import a KLM file into OpenCPN and use as a layer on GE or Bing tiles?

Thank you in advance

Chuck
ex Jacaranda

[nohal]

Never heard of KLM format that might be relevant here, but in case it's KML, GPSBabel is be able to convert it to GPX (= you will be able to see it's content as Tracks/Routes/Waypoints in OpenCPN, depending on it's actual content)
If it is going to be good enough or there is some better option I don't know, would need to see the file.

[chouliha]

Sorry yes I meant to type KML. thank you I will research GPSBabel. Could I email the file to you since it’s not a public file?

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by nohal

Never heard of KLM format that might be relevant here, but in case it's KML, GPSBabel is be able to convert it to GPX (= you will be able to see it's content as Tracks/Routes/Waypoints in OpenCPN, depending on it's actual content)
If it is going to be good enough or there is some better option I don't know, would need to see the file.

I downloaded gps babel and also downloaded the kml file for a particular canal in France.

I pointed gpsbabel to this file and choose a gpx as output. It completed successfully. Now what do I do with the file.gpx so I can get the information on the file to show up on the GE tiles?

Thanks You

Chuck

[nohal]

You load it as a layer in OpenCPN's Route & Mark Manager.

[chouliha]

Oh my it worked!!!!

Many thanks again for a great job with OpenCPN

Chuck

[chouliha]

Hi Nohal

A couple more questions regarding importing gpx files into the Route manager layer window.

I did as you suggested:
1. Taking the KML file and running it thru the gpsbabel program to create a gpx file
2. Imported the newly created gpx file into the route manager under layers
3. The process worked but the gpx file disappeared from the layer screen.

Now I want to import a newer gpx file and want to remove the previously imported gpx data.

How do I remove all the gpx entries recently loaded in the layer window when I can not see them any more.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions

Chuck

[nohal]

Chuck...

I have kind of a hard time believing that you accurately describe what you did.

My suspicion is one of the two possibilities:
- You might not have loaded the GPX file as layer (Using the buttons "Create Temporary Layer" or "Create Persistent Layer" on the Layers tab), but imported it as normal tracks/routes/waypoints using the "Import GPX..." in the bottom of the dialog, which is active only on the other 3 tabs. If that is the case, you would have to delete the routes/tracks/waypoints manually on te respective tabs.
- You might have imported the layer as temporary, in which case it disappeared (completely, with all the data it contained) as soon as you exited the application.

You might have done both.

I can't think of any scenario where the objects would actually exist, be visible, be part of a layer and that layer would not be visible on the Layers tab.

[chouliha]

Hi Nohal

2. Imported the newly created gpx file into the route manager under layers

I actually did the import gpx using the import button on the bottom of the layer screen. As you alluded to above. My bad!

Darn I will go and deleted all the marks that I loaded.

Should I have used Create Persistent Layer ? Which would show up but allow me to delete as a new update comes in?

Thank you again for your patience

Chuck

[nohal]

I don't know what exactly the data is and how often it changes, but from your description would say the persistent layer is the most suitable for you as you will be able to delete the old version and load the new one with just a few clicks and as the layers are read-only, it won't be possible to modify the objects by accident.

[chouliha]

Thank You I tried that and it appears from first look that its what I wanted.

Here is what it looks like in GE as a KML file
Jetties

Waterway: Montech, Canal de
Mooring: Rating Adequate
Lat/Long: 043°59.82N , 001°18.27E
Location: Between most locks
Mooring: 15m wooden jetties with bollards that look like lock waiting pontoons - good examples being between locks 4 and 5 and between 6 and 7. Good access to the bank and good depth.
Facilities: No facilities.
Costs: Free.
Amenities: Good for overnight stops only although towpath/cycle way gives access to Montech or Montauban.
Contributors: Xenia 18x0.8 9/16;
Remarks: These jetties make for nice quiet moorings (there is water flow noise from nearby overflowing lock gates at most locations) and make a nice break in the 9 lock trip to/from Montauban. Especially as the serviced quay at Lacourt-St-Pierre, PK 3.5, has been in our experience full 3 times out of four!
Last Update: 07-11-2016 - Mooring Index: 10659 - Version: 2

Here is what it looks like after converting from gpsbabel from a KML file to a gpx and layered into OpenCPN Bing Chart
<b>Waterway:</b> Montech, Canal de<br />
<b>Mooring:</b> Rating Adequate<br />
<b>Lat/Long:</b> 043°59.82N , 001°18.27E<br />
<b>Location:</b> Between most locks<br />
<b>Mooring:</b> 15m wooden jetties with bollards that look like lock waiting pontoons - good examples being between locks 4 and 5 and between 6 and 7. Good access to the bank and good depth.<br />
<b>Facilities:</b> No facilities.<br />
<b>Costs:</b> Free.<br />
<b>Amenities:</b> Good for overnight stops only although towpath/cycle way gives access to Montech or Montauban.<br />
<b>Contributors:</b> Xenia 18x0.8 9/16;<br />
<b>Remarks:</b> These jetties make for nice quiet moorings (there is water flow noise from nearby overflowing lock gates at most locations) and make a nice break in the 9 lock trip to/from Montauban. Especially as the serviced quay at Lacourt-St-Pierre, PK 3.5, has been in our experience full 3 times out of four!<br />
<b>Last Update:</b> 07-11-2016 - Mooring Index: 10659 - Version: 2<br />

Not sure if gpsbabel can reformat it without all the other characters which would be nice.

Thank you

Chuck

[nohal]

You don't need GPSBabel to remove the HTML tags from the description.
A bit of manual work or any decent text editor with support for macros or being scriptable in some way can be used to post process the GPX file GPSBabel creates and remove the HTML tags you don't want in the text - in case of your sample it seems all you need is replacing all occurences of "<b>", "</b>" and "<br />" with empty strings.

[chouliha]

Thank you
Chuck

[CarCode]

You can get the ENC charts for french inland waterways from
https://www.vnf.fr/vnf/app/uploads/ecdis/ecdis.html
The Canal de Montech is not a very importand waterway in France. You may get informations from VNF at
VNF - Calcul d'itinéraire fluvial
Keep in mind you have to pay for a vignette to navigate the french waterways.