GOOGLE EARTH AND OPENCPN warning re GE updates

[nathanlee]

I managed to quickly stop google auto updates from updating whatever GE version is on that laptop, that bit was easy. BUT then Microsoft had to try and spoil my day because skype ( owned by MS now) would not load and sign me in, continually telling me my log-in or password was incorrect, even after I had reset it (twice). Eventually discovered that because I had sometime back stopped Skype from updating automatically, Microsoft said the version of skype I had was not going to allow me to sign in to my account again until I updated the software version (oh and I have paid for credit and paid for call subscriptions all live and topped up, with Skype so that is trebly annoying) Also in the new Skype version download, MS force BIng as the default search and MSn as the home page, so some more housekeeping needed to change that hijack attempt And before somebody says there are check boxes there to untick, there were not, not for the BING bit only the MSN part.

Why should I have to bow scrape and kiss arse to be able to use what cost me a lot of dollars and time to get up and running to suit my needs.

Robin, a small word of caution from one of these annoying programmers that write stuff like that. The updates often (almost always) contain security updates and fixes. If your computer never goes on the internet you'll probably get away with it, but if not then there be dragons.

But who could possibly want to hack me, I hear you say. Well, nobody is likely to target you specifically, the bad guys just send out programs to break in to ANY computers automatically when they find old un-updated software that has known security holes.

Being part of a botnet* - especially when you're running on mobile data - is not recommended.

*A mass (sometimes thousands) of compromised computers that are used by a bad guy to form what is essentially a supercomputer that can take down bigger targets.

 

[Robin]

Thanks Nathan. I have just one question -WHY??

Sorry auto update, second question, WTF can we simple folk do to prevent it and be able to use the useful stuff without falling foul of the bad stuff?

 

[RobbieW]

... I have no idea what GE2Kap is either,should ? ...

GE2KAP is a neat way of capturing a GE image and turning it into a file that becomes part of OCPN's chart library. As you're now in the US you may not need it as you enjoy NOAAs chart sharing policies, most of the rest of us find it useful to grab a satellite image of a somewhere thats poorly charted and augmenting the information we have about that place. In fact perhaps the hardest thing about using GE2KAP is installing it cos it asks many questions about all the bits and pieces it wants to install. Once there its easy to use, apart from an irritating habit of resetting GE to the last place you captured an image of. Oh and it works with the current version of GE, at least it does on Win 7.

 

[Robin]

GE2KAP is a neat way of capturing a GE image and turning it into a file that becomes part of OCPN's chart library. As you're now in the US you may not need it as you enjoy NOAAs chart sharing policies, most of the rest of us find it useful to grab a satellite image of a somewhere thats poorly charted and augmenting the information we have about that place. In fact perhaps the hardest thing about using GE2KAP is installing it cos it asks many questions about all the bits and pieces it wants to install. Once there its easy to use, apart from an irritating habit of resetting GE to the last place you captured an image of. Oh and it works with the current version of GE, at least it does on Win 7.

If you're not confused, you're probably misinformed. Yep got that right!! and yes free NOAAAcharts are handy, I have the full set of USA charts on my plotter preloaded and I downloade the whole lot in Raster and Vector format to use with OpenCPN. GE is useful to see alongside the chart view as you can go down to 'street level' and look at the bridge that is round the next bend in the ICW. I can save a view from GE too to go back too, does that mean I have this GE2KAP or am I way off target again?

 

[RobbieW]

... I can save a view from GE too to go back too, does that mean I have this GE2KAP or am I way off target again?

Difficult to answer with certainty as I've never explored the GE plugin but i think not. What the plugin says its doing is to cache GE images for future use, what GE2KAP does is convert an image to a format that can be used by OCPN directly as a chart as shown...

 

[Robin]

What i have and enjoy is the google earth view linked to the char view so that when you move or zoom in on the chart, the google earth pic changes to show the same view. I don't know the hows or whys, I downloaded the plug in several yeas ago on what is now my 'boat laptop' and used as a backup to my dedicated chart plotter. I downloaded the plug in again on my home Win 8 laptop a couple of years ago which no doubt was a different version than the one on my boat's vista laptop but it was google updating the GE loaded and included with Win 8, later win8.1 after MS updated it ( also unasked) that caused my OpenCPN with GE linked to stop working until, on advice from the OpencpN forum, II dumped GE 1.5 whatever and downloaded version 7. 02 instead.

Am I the only one affected by this or s there someone more 'puter literate that had it happen that can explain the reasons and workarounds better than me??

The GE2KAP images shown above are not the same as I had nor in my case as useful s what I had and now have again.

 

[Tony Cross]

What i have and enjoy is the google earth view linked to the char view so that when you move or zoom in on the chart, the google earth pic changes to show the same view. I don't know the hows or whys, I downloaded the plug in several yeas ago on what is now my 'boat laptop' and used as a backup to my dedicated chart plotter. I downloaded the plug in again on my home Win 8 laptop a couple of years ago which no doubt was a different version than the one on my boat's vista laptop but it was google updating the GE loaded and included with Win 8, later win8.1 after MS updated it ( also unasked) that caused my OpenCPN with GE linked to stop working until, on advice from the OpencpN forum, II dumped GE 1.5 whatever and downloaded version 7. 02 instead.

Am I the only one affected by this or s there someone more 'puter literate that had it happen that can explain the reasons and workarounds better than me??

The GE2KAP images shown above are not the same as I had nor in my case as useful s what I had and now have again.

OpenCPN v4, Google Earth v 7.1.5, Windows 8.1. The Google Earth plugin (v1) doesn't work. So....I found this (this) forum entry (which I guess you've seen) and that led me to this (this) statement from Google (from 2010).

So I assume from this that the Google Earth plugin no longer works because Google no longer support the (old) API on which the plugin depends.

 

[Robin]

OpenCPN v4, Google Earth v 7.1.5, Windows 8.1. The Google Earth plugin (v1) doesn't work. So....I found this (this) forum entry (which I guess you've seen) and that led me to this (this) statement from Google (from 2010).

So I assume from this that the Google Earth plugin no longer works because Google no longer support the (old) API on which the plugin depends.

Thanks TonyI hadn't actually seen that as Idon't visit that forum unless somereason makes me,and mine is working again happily since I dumped the latest GE and reverted to GE version 7.02 and took steps mentioned earlier to prevent Google (so far) from sneakily updating my GE version. Hopefully the mny very clever OpenCPN developers will find a way of working around this as newer versions are introduced..

Anyway, apart from having my rant, I have hopefully achieved my aim of warning others using OpenCPN that there may be trouble ahead ( isn't that a song or advert ditty?)

 

[GHA]

A fix.

So 2 pieces of free software work together again. And it's free

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/google-earth-api-gone-144392.html#post1853895

 

[Robin]

A fix.

So 2 pieces of free software work together again. And it's free

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/google-earth-api-gone-144392.html#post1853895

I already fixed mine and my original post was purely intended to alert others who, like me, may not routinely visit the openCPN forum to the problem,in case they too were affected. Like I said before I'm not a geek, merely a happy OpenCPN user that got caught out by an unrequested Google update. If my comments along the way have upset some sensitive software developers, tough, because I was merely trying to be helpful to my fellow boaters not walk on eggshells through a software person's mind who might be listening in.