laptop GPS Chartplotter-- so confused

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chi-girl

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seeing as i have a spare laptop i though I'd look into laptop chartplotter software but it's so confusing.

i saw this on ebay 300587593157.

but i cant see if it comes with charts of the eastern end of the solent and Chichester Harbour.

i know i need a usb gps dongle but after that i'm stumped, or can i use a spare car gps unit with a lead to the laptop?

do i buy charts seperatly for the laptop and if so what formats?

please give some advice before i go completely mad.

thanks Ann
 
chi-girl said:
seeing as i have a spare laptop i though I'd look into laptop chartplotter software but it's so confusing.

i saw this on ebay 300587593157.

but i cant see if it comes with charts of the eastern end of the solent and Chichester Harbour.

i know i need a usb gps dongle but after that i'm stumped, or can i use a spare car gps unit with a lead to the laptop?

do i buy charts seperatly for the laptop and if so what formats?

please give some advice before i go completely mad.

thanks Ann
Click to expand...
That's OpenCPN , which is free software available from the original source at http://opencpn.org/drupal/

Charts are not free, but CM93 charts can be downloaded free but illegally from many sources.

Your best bet regarding GPS is to buy a good marine GPS handheld such as the Garmin GPS72h, and a compatible USB cable. You can then do your planning on the laptop and download routes and waypoints into the GPS.
 
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is the cm93 a chart format type?
i'll look for a source to buy them legaly.

i like the idea of using googleearth overlay but i suppose its not really needed.
thanks for the advice
 
chi-girl said:
is the cm93 a chart format type?
i'll look for a source to buy them legaly.

i like the idea of using googleearth overlay but i suppose its not really needed.
thanks for the advice
Click to expand...
Yes CM93 is the chart format.

Beware, there are many vendors claiming to sell legitimate charts, but they are in fact bootlegged copies of the CM93 charts.

The GoogleEarth plugin is compatible with OpenCPN. Anything the eBay vendor claims for his software applies to OpenCPN, because that's what he's selling.

I suggest you download and install OpenCPN, and play about with it, then look for charts.
 
im hopeless at reading the small print. ive downloaded opencpn and will look at buying charts when the children are in bed so i can have a proper browse.
 
I bought a marine gps receiver (usb) from ebay for about £50 and Memory Map software and charts http://www.memory-map.co.uk/maps_uk_atsea.htm again about £50 this can be used on laptops and portable devices and of course is legal

It all works well on pc, though on sunny days (!) not easy to see the screen
You can store routes etc

No tide data

HTH
 
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ive found opencpn and also a prog called seaclear.
visitmyharbour have a dvd for £30 with all uk charts but i cant see if that would work in opencpn or just seaclear.

does anyone know what is the best prog, seaclear or opencpn?

i have found 10 rar files on a torrent site but havent a clue how to use the torrent sites and dont even know if i download directly or need a torrentdownload prog to down load and stich them together?
 
ive decided against the torrent files as too much faffing around to save a few quid.
ive found a source of raster files but i cant see where it covers ie world, usa etc it 2.1gbs of info to download
 
Ozi-Explorer

Completely agree with the advice on getting a proper, dedicated chartplotter. As new as possbile (charts up to date), but may well be 2'nd hand.

Back to your quest:
On another occasion (a tour round Australia, driving a lot ourside city areas, where the ordinairy car navigator isn't of much use), I used the program OziExplorer on a 10" laptop, improved with an SSD harddrive to cope with vibrations etc.
An USB GPS antenna (eBay) was connected and when a map (any scanned version) was loaded, a cursor was shown on your location. It works worldwide, also at sea.

The program did cost some £60 and although maps can be purchased there are a lot made available for free by users. The GPS antenna works with many mapping softwares.
 
there isnt enough room for a chartplotter as the boat is a shetland 498 at 5mtrs long.
i just fancied trying out a cheap alternative for now.
 
elton said:
Charts are not free, but CM93 charts can be downloaded free but illegally from many sources.
Click to expand...

I've only managed to find sources for free download of the complete package of CM93 charts (1.4GB) and that was going to take me 24hrs to download, given the pathetic broadband speeds we enjoy. Do you know any sources for downloading individual CM93 charts? Reply by PM if you want. Thanks for any help
 
the sources ive found are 1gb aswell.
im downloading them now but will take a few hrs because the server for the files has capped the download speed to 20k
 
chi-girl said:
there isnt enough room for a chartplotter as the boat is a shetland 498 at 5mtrs long.
i just fancied trying out a cheap alternative for now.
Click to expand...

That is understandable. Must point out however, that life on a small boat is not what a PC likes :(

Any marine instrument will withstand the life at sea and most take up less room than a PC.

Another alternative - pocket sized - is to use a smartphone.

Iphone loaded with Marine Navigation software:
137.jpg
 
Deleted User said:
I've only managed to find sources for free download of the complete package of CM93 charts (1.4GB) and that was going to take me 24hrs to download, given the pathetic broadband speeds we enjoy. Do you know any sources for downloading individual CM93 charts? Reply by PM if you want. Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
The charts are supplied as a DVD, so the downloads are ISO images which are about 1.5GB. I don't know that they can even be split to individual regions. I guess with broadband being the norm these days there isn't much to gain by splitting them.
 
ive got the charts working on opencpn now and works great but now i have a problem with google earth plugin for opencpn . ive downloaded the plugin from thier own site which is about 200kb and added it to the plugin folder as directed but doesnt show up in the toolbox under plugins.

any ideas to get the google plugin to work
 
now ive managed to get googleearth plugin to work BUT it only comes in it's own window and not as an overlay.

is this because no gps is attached yet?
 
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