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Playtime

Playtime

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There was some discussion of this on another thread (USB GPS) but to avoid further thread drift, I'll start a new thread here.

I am currently using OpenCPN with CM93 charts and also Maptech (BSB4).

The Maptech charts are now 10 or more years old and I am looking to replace them with modern equivalents, covering the South of England (S of E) plus CIs and northern/western France.

I am aware of good deals for the following -

ARCS charts for the whole UK from Belfield (£70), and

AVCS charts for the whole UK from PolarView (£55).

However, neither of these cover France (in any detail) and, AFAIK, neither chart type is usable in OpenCPN.

Questions -

Are there any chart 'deals' that will run on OpenCPN (except CM93), for the areas required?

What chart deals, for any plotter programme, cover S of E plus France (north and west) and which are recommended?
 
Hi
That isn't my understanding of one of the products they offer ie an electronic version of all digitised charts for £25 !.
Take a closer look - it MIGHT be actually what you are after - but there again it might not be !! :-)

Jaba
 
Jabamusic said:
Hi
That isn't my understanding of one of the products they offer ie an electronic version of all digitised charts for £25 !.
Take a closer look - it MIGHT be actually what you are after - but there again it might not be !! :-)

Jaba
Click to expand...

Jaba

I did look quite closely and it is my impression that the charts are in .jpg format and would individually need registering with 3 points in something like SeaClear to be able to use them for real-time nav. They can be printed or stored and viewed on line but not in a plotter programme with a GPS connected.

My only slight reservation is whether they can be used in real-time on Google Earth with a GPS connected. Maybe someone else can help with that one?
 
Playtime said:
I did look quite closely and it is my impression that the charts are in .jpg format and would individually need registering with 3 points in something like SeaClear to be able to use them for real-time nav. They can be printed or stored and viewed on line but not in a plotter programme with a GPS connected.
Click to expand...

I think you are correct in the case of the service originally linked to, which is for charts viewed online at home. However, they also have a separate service which is intended to be used at sea: http://www.visitmyharbour.com/charts-for-seaclear.asp . They come with SeaClear; I don't know if they would also work on OpenCPN.

Pete
 
Well done PRV, I knew I'd seen something out there.

(whether it is still suitable for the OP is another matter!)

Jaba
 
prv said:
I think you are correct in the case of the service originally linked to, which is for charts viewed online at home. However, they also have a separate service which is intended to be used at sea: http://www.visitmyharbour.com/charts-for-seaclear.asp . They come with SeaClear; I don't know if they would also work on OpenCPN.

Pete
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete - this looks interesting. I'll have a closer look.

Any thoughts on compatible charts for France?
 
charts for openCPN covering UK/Ireland

Hi, Steve from VisitMyHarbour here.. some news for users of openCPN

We've teamed up with Maptech in the US in order to produce BSB4 charts that are totally compatible with openCPN and just about any PC (and some Mac) chartplotters.

We license and provide the charts, Maptech convert them to BSB4, we produce, market and sell these in Europe, we provide Maptech with discs and they market and sell these to the rest of world.

Expect these out around April, with a tag of around £50 for a complete set of UK/Irish waters charts using material from the UKHO dated 23rd Dec 2011.

You guys on this forum are the first to learn of this arrangement, which is now well underway.

Our SeaClear (not compatible with anything else) packages got a 2 page review in Sailing Today, Feb issue P43/44, where it got 4 out of 5 stars and a "Recommended by Sailing Today" sticker. At £29.50 these are selling like hotcakes.

Kind Regards, and hope you all have a great season.
 
Overner said:
We've teamed up with Maptech in the US in order to produce BSB4 charts that are totally compatible with openCPN and just about any PC (and some Mac) chartplotters.

We license and provide the charts, Maptech convert them to BSB4, we produce, market and sell these in Europe, we provide Maptech with discs and they market and sell these to the rest of world.

Expect these out around April, with a tag of around £50 for a complete set of UK/Irish waters charts using material from the UKHO dated 23rd Dec 2011.
Click to expand...

Hi Steve

That is really interesting - thanks for the early heads up.

Do you know whether northern/western France will be covered as well as the UK?
 
Playtime said:
Thanks Pete - this looks interesting. I'll have a closer look.

Any thoughts on compatible charts for France?
Click to expand...

No - I navigate with Imray's finest paper roll-em-out-on-your-chart-table-and-draw-on-em charts :). I just happened to remember a previous mention of the VMH product on the forum.

Pete
 
prv said:
No - I navigate with Imray's finest paper roll-em-out-on-your-chart-table-and-draw-on-em charts :).
Click to expand...

Hi Pete

I also use the Imray paper charts (best value etc.) but as back-up to the laptop.

OpenCPN is great for planning and then uploading the route to the GPS. On passage the GPS outputs to the autohelm so we can waypoint 'hop' if appropriate. I could output route/waypoint info direct from OpenCPN to the autohelm but I trust the GPS more than I trust Windows!

ean_p said:
Hi Playtime....can I ask what is wrong with your CM93 charts please?
Click to expand...

Personal preference - I don't like vector charts for navigating - they just don't look 'real' after Admiralty charts. They are great for AIS display, though, because you can turn the detail down and see the targets more clearly.
 
BSB4 charts for the UK

Hi Playtime,

No the ones we'll be producing won't really cover France (although it may well have 2675 which will get you across the Channel). The package will have all the Channel Islands charts included though.

Tend to agree with you about Raster/Vector charts.. if anyone is interested in the differences and limitations have a look here:

"At the UK Hydrographic Office, and many other national Hydrographic Offices, vector data (ENC) is created by tracing over the raster data. The significance of this cannot be overstated . The best quality image possible from this data can only ever approach the original raster image. When the electronic navigation chart (ENC) is displayed, with all possible display options enabled, the total amount of display information will still only approximate to that available from the raster image."

From a white paper by CherSoft, the company who produce "Easy Tide" for the UKHO. For a full understanding of the differences between RASTER and VECTOR charts download the PDF white paper from here:

http://www.chersoft.co.uk/nav_chartformats.htm

Steve at VisitMyHarbour
 
Overner said:
Hi, Steve from VisitMyHarbour here.. some news for users of openCPN

Expect these out around April, with a tag of around £50 for a complete set of UK/Irish waters charts using material from the UKHO dated 23rd Dec 2011.

You guys on this forum are the first to learn of this arrangement, which is now well underway.

Our SeaClear (not compatible with anything else) packages got a 2 page review in Sailing Today, Feb issue P43/44, where it got 4 out of 5 stars and a "Recommended by Sailing Today" sticker. At £29.50 these are selling like hotcakes.

Kind Regards, and hope you all have a great season.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting.
Will the chart set be compatible with MXMariner?
It has been developed for Android devices but to date is limited to raster charts which are not available for UK waters. The programme emulates OpenCPN and is getting good reviews in areas where charts are available.
 
Compatibility BSB4 charts

No sorry I don't know. I do know the BSB4 format will work in openCPN with the BSB4 plugin.

In all cases, the BSB4 raster charts are loaded onto your local hard disc (2 machines only). They are then locked to that machine for copyright reasons, and this is done online in the first instance.

After that any compatible program (and there are a lot of these) can use them.

Kind Regards,

Steve at VisitMyHarbour
 
Why the obsession with opencpn-personally dont like it and prefer Seaclear.
Both I believe were developed in US where you can now download both free Raster Navigational Charts and Electronic Navigational Charts.
Open CPN will of course use both but neither work with encoded charts-Seaclear is a few MBs in size wheras opencpn is about 40 mbs.
Seaclear is dedicated to the Raster image based charts and to my mind functions in exactly the same way you would use paper charts and as such feels familiar.
You begin with a small scale for an overall view then move into a larger scale for detail-hate the way openCPN does this on auto so suddenly you have a harbour chart overlaying a far smaller scale chart.
Also like way Seaclear will list all charts for given position so you can choose.
Also when I recently uploaded California catalogue from NOAA in Seaclear I see a list of chart names as well as numbers wheras in opencpn just get meaningless numbers.
 
ffiill said:
Why the obsession with opencpn-personally dont like it and prefer Seaclear.
Click to expand...

I think it's called personal preference. Personally I don't much like SeaClear. It is not so intuitive as OpenCPN.

I will not try to persuade you of the merits of OpenCPN (which are numerous); let's just just agree to disagree.
 
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