Charts for CPN

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Coaster

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After seeing a few references to OpenCPN I decided to download it. Having done this I now find that it does not include charts and that these need to be obtained from 'Chart Sources'. There seem to be many free charts for the Americas, Australasia and mainland European inland waterways.

Are any similar charts available for British Isles coastal waters?
 
Coaster said:
After seeing a few references to OpenCPN I decided to download it. Having done this I now find that it does not include charts and that these need to be obtained from 'Chart Sources'. There seem to be many free charts for the Americas, Australasia and mainland European inland waterways.

Are any similar charts available for British Isles coastal waters?
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Basically nothing free......

lots of discussion on these forums, including here:- http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289875&highlight=CPN+Charts
 
elton said:
Anything and everything is available free, if you're prepared to steal.
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I use Maptech charts for the UK and France with OpenCPN and love it.

However, we all know that there are charts available free for OpenCPN that cover the UK. Although the legality of using them is dubious there is a strong body of opinion that they are now 'in the public domain'.

Later versions are better protected as are the VisitMyHarbour charts.
 
elton said:
No, it's good. But you have to pay for UK charts, whatever nav package you have.
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I do have a Garmin 3010 chartplotter on our boat, with reasonably up to date Bluecharts. I find the system very good, an excellent complement to the UKHO paper charts we also carry.

However my interest in OpenCPN was more for planning whilst away from the boat. Some years ago I bought the Maptech package, found it useless for navigation, but the charts remain on my laptop and I often refer to them. As I will be changing laptops soon, and don't expect to be able to transfer the Maptech charts, I wondered if there was a free or inexpensive alternative.
 
Coaster said:
As I will be changing laptops soon, and don't expect to be able to transfer the Maptech charts, I wondered if there was a free or inexpensive alternative.
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The Maptech charts can be used with OpenCPN. If they are already on the laptop, complete with their encryption keys then all you need to do is point OpenCPN to the folder, load the BSB4 plug-in (available with OpenCPN) and away you go.

It's what I've used for the last 3 years or so.

I also recommend using OpenCPN with an AIS feed. It has the best AIS presentation I've seen.
 
Playtime said:
The Maptech charts can be used with OpenCPN. If they are already on the laptop, complete with their encryption keys then all you need to do is point OpenCPN to the folder, load the BSB4 plug-in (available with OpenCPN) and away you go.

It's what I've used for the last 3 years or so.

I also recommend using OpenCPN with an AIS feed. It has the best AIS presentation I've seen.
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I have tried this so many times and failed, I have given up.

I have had Maptech for about 8 years, downloaded OpenCPN and the plug in, selected the BSB4 folder, but still get nothing more than a black screen with a blue outline. :(
 
Playtime said:
I use Maptech charts for the UK and France with OpenCPN and love it.

However, we all know that there are charts available free for OpenCPN that cover the UK. Although the legality of using them is dubious there is a strong body of opinion that they are now 'in the public domain'.

Later versions are better protected as are the VisitMyHarbour charts.
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Not at all dubious. Quite clearly illegal.

Although this "strong body of opinion" that they're somehow in the public domain may be prevalent amongst the copyright infringers, I very much doubt that the vendors, who have to pay the UK Admiralty a copyright fee for every chart they sell, will share that view.
 
elton said:
Anything and everything is available free, if you're prepared to steal.
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Exactly. I suspect Playtime's attitude would change if I helped myself to thier yacht and as an excuse said something similar. Stealing is not OK, even if you really really want something!
 
The law locks up the man or woman.
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But leaves the greater villan loose,
Who sttels the common from the goose!

I'm more than happy to "steal" charts derived from government sources- I've already paid for them through taxation. I'm also happy to rip-off big corporations when I think I can get away with it, as they steal far more from their customers and workers in the form of surplus value than ever is stolen from them. And please don't tell me that it will lead to the death of creativity or enterprise. Like millions of others, I help myself to free music, in my case MP3s from YouTube mainly, and the music scene is more diverse and interesting than it's ever been. Our whole system is based on theft by the rich from the poor. Stick one back!
 
bromleybysea said:
The law locks up the man or woman.
Who steals the goose from off the common,
But leaves the greater villan loose,
Who sttels the common from the goose!

I'm more than happy to "steal" charts derived from government sources- I've already paid for them through taxation. I'm also happy to rip-off big corporations when I think I can get away with it, as they steal far more from their customers and workers in the form of surplus value than ever is stolen from them. And please don't tell me that it will lead to the death of creativity or enterprise. Like millions of others, I help myself to free music, in my case MP3s from YouTube mainly, and the music scene is more diverse and interesting than it's ever been. Our whole system is based on theft by the rich from the poor. Stick one back!
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I have never used WinMx honest, never ever heard of it :)
 
sailorman said:
you need to know where to source them but will almost certainly be out of date but still seem to be good enough
i
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The cm93 ones I have are more up to date than the paper ones onboard, ooppss.. :eek:

If I've paid for the paper ones already i con't mind downloading electronic copies of the same data. No different than copying a CD onto an ipod.
 
moodyNick said:
I have tried this so many times and failed, I have given up.

I have had Maptech for about 8 years, downloaded OpenCPN and the plug in, selected the BSB4 folder, but still get nothing more than a black screen with a blue outline. :(
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Maptech charts work fine with OpenCPN so there must be a reason why they are failing on your set-up.

Do your Maptech charts works OK on that laptop with any other software? If so then the problem must lie with your OpenCPN set-up. All I can suggest in that case is a complete removal and re-installation of the latest stable OpenCPN and the associated plug-in.

If the charts have not been used on that machine, then they probably haven't got the correct licence key. Remember Maptech charts are locked to a particular machine. You can't just copy them to another machine; you have to do a full re-install using a new key (that can only be provided by Maptech).
 
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