Charts for CPN

CPN and Raster/Vector... again

After reading the white paper PDF from CherSoft, and comparing the the CM93 and raster images above, I know which I prefer.

S57 is the standard for merchant shipping (it's not available worldwide by any means, commercials often have to revert to rasters in less well travelled areas)... but you'd be surprised how many captains and mates use our raster SeaClears in the privacy of their own cabins !

At the end of the day it's depends if you're happy navigating on something that looks like a poor arcade game, or you've been brought up using pukka Admiralty charts, dividers and pencil.

I suspect most seasoned small craft mariners over 50 are happier with raster, and the iphone brigade may be happier with vectors.

The choice is best left to the individual, and perhaps this subject is best left at that.

BTW OpenCPN make a magnificent job of automatically selecting the right raster chart for the view you are interested in, all automatically... providing you have all of them.


All the best

Steve at VMH
 
Overner said:
Probably best to agree the Raster Vector thing is down to personal choice. Raster charts are not susposed to be viewed at more than 100% size in any navigation program, or as pointed out, they are working beyond the limits they were designed for. But when you have a complete set of rasters at all scales there's no need to ever be on an overzoomed chart.

For those who really want to find out about the Raster/Vector issues, download this PDF from CherSoft (the people who do Easy Tide)

www.chersoft.co.uk/Resources%5CCherSoft_RasterVector.pdf


OK let's have a look.. here's a small sample of a raster chart of Cowes, at about 70% of full size:

portion-of-raster-chart.PNG


It may be interesting to see this exact same area lifted from a CM93 vector chart ? Would anyone care to post an image ?

Anyway, we fully support OpenCPN and their aims.. co-operation is the way to go. We do believe that users of this program should at least have the choice of being able to use bang up to date legal charts at a good price and will do our best to provide.

All the best,

Steve at VMH
Click to expand...

View attachment 20429
And zoomed out a bit.
View attachment 20428

I suspect the raster / vector preference is as much what you are used to as ease of use. Double clicking for info I like very much, but it's been ages since I've played around with a raster chart on the screen.

Anyway, well done with VMH, great resource to have online. Thanks.
 
Going into harbour

Raster or Vector for plotters... here at VMH we don't think you can beat going into a strange harbour with a custom made A4 printout of the entrance and the tricky bits, in your hand.

No time to look at the chart plotter, full size chart too unwieldly for the cockpit (or wheelhouse for that matter), best to have something printed in your hands.

A dedicated onboard system can't do this, only a PC/Mac can print A4 chartlets. OpenCPN,SeaClear, and plenty of others can print off A4 chartlets.

BTW we've realised we've missed a huge opportunity at VMH... watch out for long range monthly tide tables coming (no one else is doing this on the web, 7 days max currently)... your favourite harbours and tide stations a full year in advance, UK and near continent.

We love our work and we won't stop pushing the boundaries.

Steve at VMH
 
Overner said:
Raster or Vector for plotters... here at VMH we don't think you can beat going into a strange harbour with a custom made A4 printout of the entrance and the tricky bits, in your hand.

No time to look at the chart plotter, full size chart too unwieldly for the cockpit (or wheelhouse for that matter), best to have something printed in your hands.

A dedicated onboard system can't do this, only a PC/Mac can print A4 chartlets. OpenCPN,SeaClear, and plenty of others can print off A4 chartlets.

BTW we've realised we've missed a huge opportunity at VMH... watch out for long range monthly tide tables coming (no one else is doing this on the web, 7 days max currently)... your favourite harbours and tide stations a full year in advance, UK and near continent.

We love our work and we won't stop pushing the boundaries.

Steve at VMH
Click to expand...

i get that with open cpn now :confused:
 
Tide Tables ?

OpenCPN ? Tide Tables ? Do you mean wxTide ? Good though wxTide is , it does not use official UK harmonics data, so no tide tables for Poole, Yarmouth, Southampton, Chichester, Cowes, Weymouth, and loads of others. It just doesn't have the harmonics data to cope sadly.

We use it for onsite tide tables at the moment, but it is very limited in the tide stations it covers around he UK.

We were talking about all the tide stations EasyTide covers in the UK/Ireland and near Europe, and putting the monthly tide tables online and free at our own expense.

All the best

Steve at VMH
 
Overner said:
OpenCPN ? Tide Tables ? Do you mean wxTide ? Good though wxTide is , it does not use official UK harmonics data, so no tide tables for Poole, Yarmouth, Southampton, Chichester, Cowes, Weymouth, and loads of others. It just doesn't have the harmonics data to cope sadly.

We use it for onsite tide tables at the moment, but it is very limited in the tide stations it covers around he UK.

We were talking about all the tide stations EasyTide covers in the UK/Ireland and near Europe, and putting the monthly tide tables online and free at our own expense.

All the best

Steve at VMH
Click to expand...

Sounds very nice indeed.
 
sailorman said:
zoom out & the tide icon appearers assuming you have toggled the button
Click to expand...

Ah Ha,

you have to find a little green tide station icon and RIGHT click on it to show tides.

Not very intuitive, but it works when you know how to do it.

Thanks.

Now how do I get it so show CURRENTS? I don't see any more icons appear on the screen when I click that.
 
sailorman said:
i use an Admiralty tidal atlas :cool:
Click to expand...

I use anything I can lay my hands on :) Which round these parts is a tidal atlas as well.

Where something like opencpn/cm93 really shines is cruising in areas where you can't get hold of charts or tidal data. If it's a choice between not going somewhere or being less than precise with copyright laws then it's easier to adopt a "thems more guidelines than rules" stance. ;)
 
NDH said:
I'd think a good percentage of peeps using Open CPN are doing it with "illegal" charts downloaded from the internet.

Cruisers Forum have a dedicated board for Open CPN so if you have queries it is a good source of information
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that the usual source of such charts has been closed down - fallout from the prosecution of the owners of one of the larger file hosting services a few months ago.
 
Overner said:
Hi All,

Apart from the legality of using downloaded CM93 charts which are most certainly NOT in the public domain, there is another point.

Raster vs. Vector. The CM93 charts I guess are OK for open waters. But anyone who's looked at them will tell you that they lack a great deal of detail when it comes to close quarters stuff.. like getting into a strange harbour/river/estuary, etc.

OpenCPN makes a good job of dealing with Raster charts, and these will give you absolutely all the detail you'd get in a standard Admiralty paper chart. But you will be positioned on it, show AIS targets on it, etc.

The best solution is to use whatever charts you can get freely for areas you can't get decent legal charts for... but to buy up to date legal charts for the areas you can get them. It's your safety that's at stake, and on a dark windy night up an unfamiliar estuary wouldn't you rather have a familiar looking chart with ALL the details visible ?

We at VisitMyHarbour are great fans of free or cheap navigation programs, and specifically make compatible charts for them. We don't think you should be paying £100's for card readers, programs etc. Judging by the way our SeaClear package sells, we tend to think boat owners agree too...

Check out this article by Richard Fairman where he tests out 4 great free/cheap nav programs over 1000 sea miles:

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/chartplotter-sea-tests.asp

And specifically we now make a "ChartStick" with July 2012 UK/Irl charts that is 100% compatible with OpenCPN, Polar Navy... and also Google Earth as an option.

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/charts-for-opencpn.asp

Initial cost is a little pricey at £54 odd, BUT £25 of that is the deposit on the hardware dongle. Future editions (we tend to make 2 a year), can be built onto the same dongle for £20-£25. The dongle is portable between any number of Windows machines, use at home or on the boat.

Kind Regards to all,

Steve
Click to expand...

Can I use your dongle with OpenCPN version 3.0.2? Or ... do I have to use the version of OpenCPN 2.5 that comes with the dongle?
 
maby said:
I think you'll find that the usual source of such charts has been closed down - fallout from the prosecution of the owners of one of the larger file hosting services a few months ago.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by this but if you're referring to tpb that didn't host any of this pirate material anyway, and hasn't been shut down. The torrents are still there and the search website is still there. The only thing that changed is that UK ISPs are required to block access to the search.
 
Overner said:
Initial cost is a little pricey at £54 odd, BUT £25 of that is the deposit on the hardware dongle. Future editions (we tend to make 2 a year), can be built onto the same dongle for £20-£25. The dongle is portable between any number of Windows machines, use at home or on the boat.
Click to expand...

You're not using a dongle for copyright protection are you? I last used one professionally in 1989 and it was a damned nuisance then in an office environment. There is no way I'd use one over twenty years later on a small boat.

I was seriously interested in buying your charts but I'll wait until you get into the 21st century.
 
Yes you can

taifun said:
Can I use your dongle with OpenCPN version 3.0.2? Or ... do I have to use the version of OpenCPN 2.5 that comes with the dongle?
Click to expand...

I'm using (only at home so far) OpenCPN version 3.0.2 with the VMH chartstick dongle, UK charts - the instructions that come with the stick say - for newer versions of OpenCPN turn on OpenGL mode, very simple to do - looks fine to me.

As an aside, Antares charts for Scottish anchorages on OpenCPN knit well with the charts from VHM and look an impressive way of finding your way through some complicated entrances - again still to use in anger on the boat but matched together looks impressive.
 
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