Opencpn , Google Earth Plug In

[jakeroyd]

Trying to get this to work , downloaded it and moved it to the plugin folder where Opencpn is looking for it. I can see the other two default pluginns in the same folder( using normal Windows explorer)
However , Opencpn in the plugin page in setup can not see the GE Plugin.
File extensions appear ok.
Any ideas please ?

I am running Opencpn 2.1 I think

TIA

 

[geoid96]

I am running Opencpn 2.1 I think

TIA

The OpenCPN GE plugin requires minimum v2.4.523. Try upgrading to v2.5.0

 

[Robin]

Also IIRC when I set mine up you need to have the plug in set to open as administrator if you have User Account Control in use. I forget how to do without going hunting for it but I think find the GE .exe program file then right click on it and select properties and I think there is a tick box to tick or untick under one of the heading tabs.

Edited to add, I just looked and it may be that I had to do the above for OpenCPN rather than Google for the two to work together.

While you are playing, download the Konni version of the plug in logbook as well which is also excellent.

 

[LadyInBed]

Also (probably obviously) you need to have Google Earth loaded on the PC.

 

[Robin]

Also (probably obviously) you need to have Google Earth loaded on the PC.

But worth saying as it isn't as obvious as it seems!

 

[colhel]

I've got OpenCPN (just a load of blue lines though) and Google Earth. I'm running XP.
I'm fairly PC illiterate.
What do I do now?

 

[jakeroyd]

Thanks everybody , I will try the administrator edit.

 

[Robin]

I've got OpenCPN (just a load of blue lines though) and Google Earth. I'm running XP.
I'm fairly PC illiterate.
What do I do now?

It sounds like you don't have any charts loaded yet?

Do you have the Ggogle Earth plug-in as well as Google Earth?

You can download some free charts of the USA from NOAA the official USA source, that will show you how it can look and all USA charts are free to legally download. They do both vector and raster versions and either will run in OpenCPN, I have both of each area. These need to be listed in OpenCPN, go to tools/charts and browse you folders to find the downloaded charts and point OpenCPN to them (pretty obvious).

Then download the Google Earth plug-in from OpenCPN site or links from it and put that in the same folder as OpenCPN. You might need to do the run as administrator thing to get the two together, I did have to on OpenCPN as I run my Vista computer with User Account Control 'on'.

Once you have everything in place, run OpenCPN and the Google Earth (and any other plug-ins) should have a button on the toolbar, click on it and Google Earth should open in a window left side of your screen. Move your location over to wherever you have charts of and Google Earth should follow and show the GE view of the same area at roughly the same scale, you can zoom in/out with the scroll wheel and both charts and GE should react together, plus you can zoom right in to ground level view on GE if you wish. You need to be connected to internet of course because GE is not on your computer it is out 'there'. However if you run along an intended route with GE running and at the required chart scale before you disconnect it will keep that in cache so you can then do it without the internet hooked up.

 

[colhel]

Thank You Robin.
And Thank You Jakeroyd for the PM.

I'll ave a go, as they say

Colin