How to copy chart files onto an Android phone?

[ProDave]

I have Open CPN installed on an android phone. (and on my home pc) I have the charts on my windows pc. I want to copy them onto the phone, but onto it's SD card as the inbuilt memory is nearly full.

Previous phone I just plugged the USB cable into the PC, it showed as a drive in windows explorer and I copied files. This one does nothing when you plug the USB into the pc.

I have found under the file manager on the phone a "transfer to PC" option. when you turn that on, it tells you to browse to ftp://192.168.1.224:2121 well sure enough it brings up the phones file system in an FTP window on my browser, but I haven't a clue how you ftp from a browser window.

So, I have a proper FTP program in my pc, FileZilla. I open that and point it to ftp://192.168.1.224:2121 and that also displays the phones file system.

I then try to copy files to the phone and get the error "Error on Output file" and it does not copy anything to the phone.

I am now stuck, so please, on a modern Samsung android phone, just how do I copy a load of files and folders from my pc to the SD card in the android?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I am now stuck, so please, on a modern Samsung android phone, just how do I copy a load of files and folders from my pc to the SD card in the android?

I have found that the quickest, easiest and most reliable method is to whip the SD card out, stick it in a card reader attached to the PC, and do it that way.

 

[ProDave]

I have found that the quickest, easiest and most reliable method is to whip the SD card out, stick it in a card reader attached to the PC, and do it that way.

But this is a micro SD card and I don't have a card reader to fit that. As a last resort I will buy one, but there must be a way?

 

[GHA]

Android won't let you write to the sd card unfortunately, you need to copy into the phone memory then move to te external sd card on the phone.

Quite dull with loads of folders to copy across..

If you have plenty fast internet then dropbox might be an option.

 

[ProDave]

Android won't let you write to the sd card unfortunately, you need to copy into the phone memory then move to te external sd card on the phone.

Quite dull with loads of folders to copy across..

If you have plenty fast internet then dropbox might be an option.

Not enough memory on the phone to do that.

So Jumbleducks idea is the best then? Off to buy a micro SD card reader then.

 

[JumbleDuck]

But this is a micro SD card and I don't have a card reader to fit that. As a last resort I will buy one, but there must be a way?

Micros SD cards often come with adapters to let them fit full size readers. I probably have a spare - send me a PM with an address if you'd like me to post one.

Android won't let you write to the sd card unfortunately, you need to copy into the phone memory then move to te external sd card on the phone.

My phone happily lets me write to the SD card directly when it's mounted as an MTP device. So does my tablet. Android 5 and 6 respectively.

 

[GHA]

Not enough memory on the phone to do that.

So Jumbleducks idea is the best then? Off to buy a micro SD card reader then.

You don't have to do them all in one hit, would get bit boring though..

Card reader would be handy anyway though.

Another tip, after an exhilarating day out on the water using your mobile, with filezilla you can copy all the "navobj.xml" files from the phone to your laptop and relive the drama with the saved track

Works the other way as well, after some passage planning on the laptop - copy navobj files back across to the phone. Though if you've moved the app to the external card then you'll need to copy to the phone memory then move to the card. Not that bad once some bookmarks are set up.

 

[GHA]

My phone happily lets me write to the SD card directly when it's mounted as an MTP device. So does my tablet. Android 5 and 6 respectively.

Using filezilla over wifi? Mine will work if you faff about with cables but I forgot people still do that

 

[ProDave]

One step forward.... next problem

I found a card reader. I now have the charts on the SD card, in a folder called CHARTS in it's root directory.

Now, if I try and configure open CPN to use the charts, how do I get it to look at the SD card? I can brows down to /storage/emulated/0 but it won't go any lower, and as far as I can see that's the phones inbuilt memory. I can't see how withing OpenCPN to browse to the SD card to select the chart folder?

The phones file manager sees the chart folders, so they are there.

 

[GHA]

One step forward.... next problem

I found a card reader. I now have the charts on the SD card, in a folder called CHARTS in it's root directory.

Now, if I try and configure open CPN to use the charts, how do I get it to look at the SD card? I can brows down to /storage/emulated/0 but it won't go any lower, and as far as I can see that's the phones inbuilt memory. I can't see how withing OpenCPN to browse to the SD card to select the chart folder?

The phones file manager sees the chart folders, so they are there.

Which version from the app store are you using?

The free one is ancient and hasn't been updated for ages, the app from dave register is from the developers and should have internal & external tabs at the add chart screen.

 

[ProDave]

It's the original free one. Is the "daves register" one you mention also free?

I have found the files, the path to the SD card turned out to be /storage/emulated/0/storage/7863-13FC Obvious really? the Android file system continues to be a total mystery to me.

So now I have my charts working, just one last question. the spot heights on a chart appear as a micro dot. You zoom in and very briefly the text is large enough to read before it re sizes back to a micro dot. I am sure there must be an option to adjust that to a readable size, but have not yet found it.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Using filezilla over wifi? Mine will work if you faff about with cables but I forgot people still do that

Ah yes, good point. Mine lives under my monitor (kids, ask your grandfather what a "desktop computer" was) to charge from a USB cable, so it's always connected. For fancy wireless copying I find ES File Explorer very good.

 

[GHA]

The official version one is 8 quid or so from memory, well worth it.
http://www.bigdumboat.com/aocpn/cpnapp.html

Help forum for the paid version here..
http://bigdumboat.com/aocpn/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4

The soundings size can be increased if you go into options (spanner icon), then user interface and slide the chart objsct scale slider to the right.

PS - If you have opencpn on laptop as well the new venture farther plugin is good for creating google earth image chart files, usable on a tablet but might be a bit fiddly on a phone.
https://github.com/Rasbats/vfkaps_pi/releases

 

[nemodreams]

Good to know open cpn android app works ok. I am in essentially the same position. Have open cpn on pc etc. ( my usb works fine on mtb setting - XP - MotoG3 Marshmallow 6.0.1.- for transfer )

Would be interested to know what you think of the android app. I'd like to make use of the pc charts. I would be putting in on a tablet likely though.

Visit my Harbour etc are so cheap for Uk coverage its hardly worth it if CPN app is a iffy ?

As you say android file system does not seem too 'smart' !

 

[GHA]

Good to know open cpn android app works ok. I am in essentially the same position. Have open cpn on pc etc. ( my usb works fine on mtb setting - XP - MotoG3 Marshmallow 6.0.1.- for transfer )

Would be interested to know what you think of the android app. I'd like to make use of the pc charts. I would be putting in on a tablet likely though.

Visit my Harbour etc are so cheap for Uk coverage its hardly worth it if CPN app is a iffy ?

As you say android file system does not seem too 'smart' !

I'm a fan, use it on a sony xperia tablet in the cockpit all the time. though it really shines with ais data over wifi, the ais display must be as good as there is.

Up to date charts are available for the uk and europe, Norway has just been added ->
http://o-charts.org/shop/index.php?id_category=8&controller=category&id_lang=4

 

[ProDave]

Thanks for all the help, all working now.

The android app is great, subject to the limitations of trying to do anything sensible on a tiny phone screen. A decent sized tablet wold be better.

 

[nemodreams]

I'm a fan, use it on a sony xperia tablet in the cockpit all the time. though it really shines with ais data over wifi, the ais display must be as good as there is.

Up to date charts are available for the uk and europe, Norway has just been added ->
http://o-charts.org/shop/index.php?id_category=8&controller=category&id_lang=4

Thanks for the link - what are you imputting your ais from ? ie - ais transponder etc or data connection. I would like ais on a tablet.

 

[GHA]

Thanks for the link - what are you imputting your ais from ? ie - ais transponder etc or data connection. I would like ais on a tablet.

AIS comes originally from a Nasa ais engine then into a Raspberry Pi mini computer which does all the work of transmitting everything over wifi.
http://www.sailoog.com/en/openplotter

Also monitors engine temperatures with some cheap thermometers which it then converts into a water temperature nmea sentence so the dashboard plugin on Opencpn can display all on one place on the tablet.
Very powerful setup for not much money or power and not that hard to set up. Other cheap sensors include accurate voltage monitoring, electronic compass and atmospheric pressure.

 

[ffiill]

Micros SD cards often come with adapters to let them fit full size readers. I probably have a spare - send me a PM with an address if you'd like me to post one.



My phone happily lets me write to the SD card directly when it's mounted as an MTP device. So does my tablet. Android 5 and 6 respectively.

Confirming that Micro sd cards come with an adapter which you plug them into which then plugs into the sd card slot on your PC.
You can then put as many as you want on your android micro sd card.
Only problem is that in my experience is that an ap like open cpn will not read it from within the android system
The only files on an sd card that are readable are pic and movie files.

 

[ProDave]

Confirming that Micro sd cards come with an adapter which you plug them into which then plugs into the sd card slot on your PC.
You can then put as many as you want on your android micro sd card.
Only problem is that in my experience is that an ap like open cpn will not read it from within the android system
The only files on an sd card that are readable are pic and movie files.

I DID get openCPN to read the chart files on the SD card, but as I posted earlier it was a bit of hit and miss browsing to find how it addressed the SD card and it was not where I expected it to be.