PC Navigation Moves on yet again

Hurricane

Hurricane

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Over 2 years ago (wow doesn't time fly) I posted this - titled "Has the PC finally come of age? – a review of OpenCPN"

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...C-finally-come-of-age-%96-a-review-of-OpenCPN

Since then, things have moved along - as they do.
I've always been a bit stuck to my "old faithful" Memory Map PC software but OpenCPN now seems to have a really professional touch.

I'm in the process of rebuilding the boat's PC and generally bringing things up to date.
Faster and more efficient processors etc mean that my old low power PC is about to be replaced.
The great thing about an integrated PC on the boat is that it's really easy to upgrade - just unplug the old one and plug in a new one.
Nothing wrong with the old one except that it didn't play HD Videos etc and it's time to move on to more powerful processors etc.

So, after ordering the components for the rebuild, I had another look at OpenCPN
It really does seem to have come a long way since my last post on the subject.
A great new feature is the ability to split your charts into "chart groups"
I've always had a problem selecting charts with OpenCPN - the system "quilts" different scales (indeed even quilting vector and raster charts on the same screen)
In the past this has lead to a cluttered display but now the "groups" feature seems to have tackled that.

Anyway, for those of you who don't want to load it to see what it does, here's a video which shows what the PC can do if integrated as a Nav Aid.



or if yo want to see it full screen, here's a link
http://www.youtube.com/v/IURebdWRAiE
 
I've been using it for 3 or 4 years now. I just don't see the same development in commercial apps and how clean and well laid out OpenCPN is. Its definitely taking design cues from smartphone apps and of course it can also be used with a touchscreen display on a PC. I have it on the main boat PC and also on a netbook with windows 8.

If you haven't been already, check out the new Princess Owners community on Google+ .
 
+1
worth mentioning the radar overlay for Garmin new digital radars!
I'm waiting for them to appear in the s/h market for 500quid or so ;)

cheers

V.
 
What charts are available for the Med, at what cost & what about updates.

I have used PC Maritime's Navmaster Pro for years which I really like with 87 BA ARCS charts. I have purchased these over the years & an annual chart update costs about £77.

However the BA have decided in their wisdom to cancel this service & only license (hire) charts annually with a minimum £500 annual charge!! They are "trying" a £15/chart/year fee but this is still silly & only works for Pro vessels.

I can keep what I have but after November will be unable to update them.
 
Forty_Two said:
What charts are available for the Med, at what cost & what about updates.

I have used PC Maritime's Navmaster Pro for years which I really like with 87 BA ARCS charts. I have purchased these over the years & an annual chart update costs about £77.

However the BA have decided in their wisdom to cancel this service & only license (hire) charts annually with a minimum £500 annual charge!! They are "trying" a £15/chart/year fee but this is still silly & only works for Pro vessels.

I can keep what I have but after November will be unable to update them.
Click to expand...

Over the last few years, I've been scanning my own and then geo-referencing them using Memory Map
Last year, I wrote a Windows program to convert QCT (V2) charts to BSB format.
OpenCPN uses BSB charts so all my charts work on both Memory Map and OpenCPN

For the Med, I have a set of BA charts for the Western Med - most are dated July 2010 so I really need to update them sometime.
I have just over 2000 charts of various areas so OpenCPN's new group feature will be useful - I think the time has now come for me to move completely over to OpenCPN
This is only the PC/planning system, the boat's main Nav revolves around Raymarine and Navionics
 
Looks great. But not convinced the mouse/GUI suits the harsh environment of many helm types. Wheel house ok, but in a bouncy sea wonder how easy is it to be precise with a mouse compared to touch screen UI. FB or Cockpit helm not very PC friendly. I guess with an ultra bright marinised touch screen pc display and a UI designed only for touch screen it could work well on exposed helms connected to enclosed PC sheltered from vibration, shock, water and corrosion. My condolences to anybody suffering with Windows 8 (ie Vista II squared) :)
 
oceanfroggie said:
Looks great. But not convinced the mouse/GUI suits the harsh environment of many helm types. Wheel house ok, but in a bouncy sea wonder how easy is it to be precise with a mouse compared to touch screen UI. FB or Cockpit helm not very PC friendly. I guess with an ultra bright marinised touch screen pc display and a UI designed only for touch screen it could work well on exposed helms connected to enclosed PC sheltered from vibration, shock, water and corrosion. My condolences to anybody suffering with Windows 8 (ie Vista II squared) :)
Click to expand...

I agree about the mouse thing.
I use an "Air Mouse" which is a bit like a WII controller but, as you say, in rough seas, it wouldn't be much good.
In fact, I think that anything on the dashboard (including touch screens) fall into that category.
My main system uses Raymarine wireless keyboards which stay firmly planted in your hands and will operate the Raymarine kit in even the strongest of conditions.
For me, though, the PC system is a "parallel" system which us way better when planning trips and also runs alongside whilst at sea thus providing a backup.
The PC video feeds onto the Raymarine displays so even if you don't control it, you can still flick back to the PC screen whilst under way.
In practice, though, the "Air Mouse" is fine - even at sea so both the PC and the Raymarine systems are fully operatable on the FB and the lower helm (can't actually remember when we last used the lower helm though)
Both the "Air Mouse" and its associated wireless PC keyboard are "long range" so as long as you have a video screen to look at, the PC can be controlled anywhere on the boat - even in the cabins.
The great thing about the PC is that it also forms a great entertainment center - music - TV - videos etc - I'm even transferring TV progs from my home Media Center to the boat so the same PC also becomes a posh PVR (video recorder/player) - and as I say even in the cabins.

I posted above that I'm in the process of building a new PC to replace my now outdated old system.
The system I've chosen uses a Mini-itx cube - a box about 8 x 8 x 5 inches and houses a 3.3Mhz i3 processor with 8Gb RAM and SSD
Built the whole thing for just over £400
Runs cooler than the old system and is way faster and already more reliable.
I will post some pics of the new PC if anyone is interested.
Today, I added a Bluetooth interface so that anyone wanting to connect their iPod or smart phone to the system can play their own music over the ship's speakers.

The big thing for me is that now the PC is fast enough to run OpenCPN properly so I am expecting to finally move on from Memory Map.
Memory Map won't be binned though - it is still useful for reading scanned charts and Geo-referencing them before conversion with my program to the OpenCPN chart formats.

If anyone's interested, I could also do a quick video showing the speed that OpenCPN switches chart resolutions - it's quite staggering considering that it also can mix raster and vector charts at the same time.

EDIT:- BTW, I've stuck with Windows 7 !!!!
 
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