Quality of Australia OpenCPN Charts

[ilenart]

This maybe an Australia only issue, however one of the issues I have is with the quality of Australian charts available from O Charts. Best way to highlight is with an example.

The first / top screenshot is the entrance to Stark Bay at Rottnest from OpenCPN, utilising charts from O Charts.

The second / bottom screenshot is the same location taken from iNavX.

As you can see there is a fair bit of difference between the two charts. If you are unfamiliar with Stark Bay it is a fairly tricky entrance with multiple sharp turns to avoid the reefs, Fortunately there are large markers to help you through most of these turns, Unfortunately these markers do not even appear in OpenCPN! If I was not familiar with Rottnest I would not want to rely on OpenCPN for pilotage.

I have been doing a fair bit of planning lately for a round Australia trip and this same issue appears all along the east coast.

Now straight away I would say that I really like OpenCPN and the service that OCharts provide is great. For anyone using OpenCPN in Oz I would recommend that they buy the O Charts maps for Australia. However I would be cautious of solely relying on the Oz charts.

Comments / questions? Am I missing something?

Ilenart

[P_Dub]

Make a few tiles (kap charts) from SasPlanet and you sould be OK.
Good luck.

[bcn]

For West Australia there is an effort underway from the local authorities to provide large scale charts for the sites important for leisure sailors.
As you might know a raster chart (pdf, paper) set without geo-referencing does already exist from the same official source.


We expect the same data in vector format in the future and will add them to the oeSENC set when those become available. In the meantime P_Dub's hint can give a way how to bridge the existing "holes" in AHS vector charts coverage.



o-charts is not a chart editor. We rely on existing licensed material. And will not add or remove information.

[Dsanduril]

What are your current settings in OpenCPN for vector chart detail? Here are settings in both the Options pages (from the gear icon in the toolbar top left) and from the chart MUI (“hamburger” icon in the lower right corner). Settings in both places have a big impact on what and how much of vector charts is displayed. Don’t have the Oz charts so can’t look at those directly.

[requiem]

Originally Posted by ilenart

Comments / questions? Am I missing something?

As mentioned the o-charts chart is too small-scale for the area. Vector charts can be arbitrarily zoomed and still appear "reasonable" long past the point that a raster chart would be pixelated to death, which is what's happening here.

The presence of the "OverZoom" or overscale warning on your screen is to warn you that you've zoomed in too far. If you've done that for a particular reason, e.g. two labels were too close together to read, that's fine. If you're doing it in the hopes of revealing more detail, that's asking for trouble; it's no different from using a magnifying glass on a coastal-scale chart when you really want a harbour-scale chart.

[P_Dub]

Ilenart

Here is the kap charts for the area you would like. Removed the pdf and unzip the file.
Good luck

[JPA Cate]

Our charts are CM 93, and they show the courses in, and they show the red and greens, a range mark, and a number of cardinal marks to guide you in. It is your charts that are not showing what you want. I would be okay using our chart to get in there, all the reefs are shown, as well as one's course to get in. Apologies for not knowing how to show you the screen. Poor computer skills, here.

[P_Dub]

The CM93, ed 2 are OK if you have the correct version. but not so with some.
Bye.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by P_Dub

The CM93, ed 2 are OK if you have the correct version. but not so with some.

Bye.

Can you elaborate? Which are the correct versions?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by GILow

Can you elaborate? Which are the correct versions?

Phone home, to Jim.

A.

[jean_pfoumf]

cm93 chart updated 2014-06-02

[ilenart]

Originally Posted by bcn

For West Australia there is an effort underway from the local authorities to provide large scale charts for the sites important for leisure sailors.
As you might know a raster chart (pdf, paper) set without geo-referencing does already exist from the same official source.


We expect the same data in vector format in the future and will add them to the oeSENC set when those become available. In the meantime P_Dub's hint can give a way how to bridge the existing "holes" in AHS vector charts coverage.


o-charts is not a chart editor. We rely on existing licensed material. And will not add or remove information.

Thanks bcn, from your comments I assume you are associated with o-charts. If so very happy with the service you provide. Your comments regarding not being a chart editor explain a lot as I am use to using CMap and similar

Ilenart

[ilenart]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

What are your current settings in OpenCPN for vector chart detail? Here are settings in both the Options pages (from the gear icon in the toolbar top left) and from the chart MUI (“hamburger” icon in the lower right corner). Settings in both places have a big impact on what and how much of vector charts is displayed. Don’t have the Oz charts so can’t look at those directly.

Pretty sure I have everything turned on, will check when I am next in OpenCPN

[bcn]

Originally Posted by ilenart

Thanks bcn, from your comments I assume you are associated with o-charts. If so very happy with the service you provide. Your comments regarding not being a chart editor explain a lot as I am use to using CMap and similar

Ilenart

Ilenart...


o-charts is part of OpenCPN. Providing charts for OpenCPN and stepping in where OpenCPN requires some legal person in order to sign stuff for example with the Hydrographic Offices.
We did choose this approach to assure a clean separation between Open Source and closed part due to restrictions licensing implies.


Hubert

[ilenart]

Thanks everyone for all the comments. I think some of the responses have missed the point I was trying to make, (Stark bay has been included as an example. I have probably been in that bay about 50 times, so do not need to update OpenCPN) but I guess thats how it works on forums.

I believe bcn has explained the difference betwen O-charts and the other maps I generally use (ie C-maps, Navionics, etc), which is what the above Stark Bay example was trying to highlight - “O-Charts is not an editor”. So comparing to a product that is fully edited and configured (and probably three times the price) is not reasonable.

And thank you to those people who responded to ways of plugging the “gap”. Yes I’m sure I could figure out creating tiles (kap files). However for me there is a quicker and simpler method, rely on either the C-Map charts on the chartplotter in the cockpit, or iNavX on the ipad when I am entering bays / harbours etc where the O-Charts lack the details. This actually works fine on how I navigate; OpenCPN running at the nav station for “navigation” (ie which side of that island do I go on, what time do I need to arrive to catch the flood for this bar);and a dedicated chartplotter in the cockpit for “pilotage” (don’t hit that rock / ship on AIS).

I guess I have been spoilt, the last system I had at the nav station was running C-Maps (with all the pretty pictures!). Still OpenCPN is a far better system than the dinasour system I was using.

Thanks again for all the comments and when I find some time I will download and have a go at installing the files people have sent me.

Ilenart