Polar Navy

LittleShip

LittleShip

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I did ask this on another thread but didn't get a reply so I'm trying here ??

I have Polar Navy charts for the UK that I would like to run on Opencpn. I have tried without success. Can anybody help with this setup I'm sure that it is possible but I just don't seem able to get it to recognise the charts.

The Cmap charts I have work fine but the Polar Navy charts are more up to date.

Tom
 
LittleShip said:
I did ask this on another thread but didn't get a reply so I'm trying here ??

I have Polar Navy charts for the UK that I would like to run on Opencpn. I have tried without success. Can anybody help with this setup I'm sure that it is possible but I just don't seem able to get it to recognise the charts.

The Cmap charts I have work fine but the Polar Navy charts are more up to date.

Tom
Click to expand...

I think that the Polar Navy charts are S63 encrypted vector charts.
If this is correct, they can't be displayed by OpenCPN.
 
Tiafun

It seems they are S63-S57 or some such thing........ Its very annoying as to use them I would now need to purchase their program at £50 and it is time limited so you need to keep going back to them. The other problem is that my boat computer has no internet access and that makes it even harder to get it working.........somebody at P Navy needs to get their act together for the lower end of the market.

I have a great program called "Navicharts" which was purchased in 2005 and timed out in 2006 I really don't like the idea of "hiring" charts when I buy something I expect it to be mine.

Looks like I'm going to stick with the charts that I have, pity as Polar Navy charts look to be very good and clear, but I'm reluctant to keep paying, boating is expensive enough without that kind of tosh.

Buy something you own it and it should work :mad:

Tom
 
Last edited:
Just stumbled on this thread.

1. PolarView NS license costs $39.99, that's about GBP 25.
2. PolarView license is not time limited. There is no need to pay again.

That's the cheapest navigation product on the market, quite literally.

Please do not post unverified information.
 
brak said:
Just stumbled on this thread.

1. PolarView NS license costs $39.99, that's about GBP 25.
2. PolarView license is not time limited. There is no need to pay again.

That's the cheapest navigation product on the market, quite literally.

Please do not post unverified information.
Click to expand...

That's what it says here : http://www.iportis.com/showcart.php?cart_id=299

Plus $19.99 for UK charts.

PolarCom is also a very nice little program for the PC : http://www.polarnavy.com/main/prod2

FOC and works nicely overlaid onto OpenCPN :)
 
Last edited:
brak said:
Just stumbled on this thread.

1. PolarView NS license costs $39.99, that's about GBP 25.
2. PolarView license is not time limited. There is no need to pay again.

That's the cheapest navigation product on the market, quite literally.

Please do not post unverified information.
Click to expand...

Tom of Littleship was asking for help & no-one was able to offer it at the time. I can understand his frustration, he is not a computer expert & has clearly not found that site. He has posted the information he found. He has no need to "verify" it.

I'm sure he would have been grateful for your post had it been timely, & even at this late date, it might still be helpful if the $39.99 licence is applicable in the UK for UK/ Irish charts.
 
This is the first time I've heard of Polar Navy
So I had a look at their site
My initial view is that it seems to have everything

Also the promotion video says that it uses either BSB or S57 charts.
Just like OpenCPN
Have you tried just pointing OpenCPN at the Polar Navy charts and see what happens.

I mainly use raster charts on my PC - either using Memory Map's QCT format or BSB.
I've written a PC converter program that converts the older version of Memory Map QCT charts into BSB format so that I can use them on OpenCPN.
BTW the older versions of Memory Map have an excellent georeferencing tool built in so that you can make your own charts from scans etc.
Thats one of the reasons that I like to use raster charts but Raymarine kit uses Navionics vector charts of course.
 
Last edited:
Searush said:
It might still be helpful if the $39.99 licence is applicable in the UK for UK/ Irish charts.
Click to expand...

Steve, if you look at the link in my reply (try and pay attention please) you'll see that the $39.99 license is for the software, UK charts are an additional $19.99

Certainly not extortionate, but contrary to Braks post, it isn't "the cheapest navigation product on the market, quite literally". The Navionics app is cheaper, for one, and OpenCpn is free :p
 
Just downloaded Polar Navy and had a play with my raster charts
It actually seems quite good.
I find OpenCPN a little flakey but there was no sign of anything wrong with Polar Navy.

I just "pointed it" at my BSB format charts and it worked first time.
So I gave it 715 charts and it's caching seems to work fine.
The screen routines are very fast.

I then had a little play with routes etc and after getting my head round it's rather unconventional human interface, it really worked quite well

Here are a few screen dumps
The first shows 3 entirely different chart publishers "quilted together".

PolarNavy1_Small.jpg


This one is much the same but with 2 different charts on the same quilt.

PolarNavy2_Small.jpg


And a much larger scale chart - in fact Mallorca in this screen dump is a separate quilt.

PolarNavy3_Small.jpg


I only had CM93 vector charts which, unsurprisingly, Polar Navy didn't read.


In conclusion, I think it's worth the price they quote - especially as they will allow you to install on 5 systems.
 
Hurricane said:
In conclusion, I think it's worth the price they quote - especially as they will allow you to install on 5 systems.
Click to expand...

I agree it's worth the money, especially for anyone with no charts. $19.99 for UK charts is a real bargain.

Think i'll stick with OpenCPN for now though. I already have the charts and it'll be interesting to see how well the new radar plugin works.

By the way, i can't say as i've noticed any flakey behaviour with OpenCPN and the CM93 charts. My only flakeyness has been from GPSGate, which i use with my Bluetooth multiplexor to emulate ports for AIS and Polar Com.
 
PaulGooch said:
I agree it's worth the money, especially for anyone with no charts. $19.99 for UK charts is a real bargain.

Think i'll stick with OpenCPN for now though. I already have the charts and it'll be interesting to see how well the new radar plugin works.

By the way, i can't say as i've noticed any flakey behaviour with OpenCPN and the CM93 charts. My only flakeyness has been from GPSGate, which i use with my Bluetooth multiplexor to emulate ports for AIS and Polar Com.
Click to expand...

Does that clear things up for you Tom??

If so, can you explain to me what the feck they're on about :eek:
 
LittleShip said:
Well I have the charts on a disc and my Open CPN wont read them :p

Tom

PS. Searush thanks for the vote of thanks re computer skills, I could be putting you along with Philiz as an acquaintance soon :)
Click to expand...

There is a good reason for that Tom, they are not compatible. Says on the Polar Navy site the UK charts can only be used with their software.

http://polarnavy.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/united-kingdom-charts-available/

Also says so on the OpenCPN site here : http://opencpn.org/ocpn/chart_formats

Which charts do you have for open CPN that do work, you said you had some older ones ?

How about downloading the trial version of Polar View ? It's only £25 to buy and you already have the charts.
 
LittleShip said:
Well I have the charts on a disc and my Open CPN wont read them :p

Tom
Click to expand...

I assume that the charts from Polar Navy on the disk are the vector ones (either S57 or S63 formats).
However, I suspect that you bought the UK set which will, undoubtedly be encrypted by some kind of DRM coding which would mean the S63 format.
AFAIK there are various ways that a supplier can encrypt charts.
One way is to attach the encryption to your specific computer. If this is the case, there will be an installation procedure where you install them onto your PC. It is also possible that the Polar Navy Charts are specifically encoded to work ONLY with Polar Navy software. An, of course, it’s possible that they have used both these techniques.

The OpenCPN website does say that it works with, I quote "BSBv3 raster and S57 ENC chart support".

So, check which charts are on your disk.

The charts in my pics above are raster charts not vector ones. That means they are “scans of paper charts” rather than the “more intelligent database of lines etc” that are drawn by the PC at the time they are displayed. Hope that helps.

What is your ultimate goal?
Is it to get OpenCPN running on UK charts?
 
PaulGooch said:
There is a good reason for that Tom, they are not compatible. Says on the Polar Navy site the UK charts can only be used with their software.

http://polarnavy.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/united-kingdom-charts-available/

Also says so on the OpenCPN site here : http://opencpn.org/ocpn/chart_formats

Which charts do you have for open CPN that do work, you said you had some older ones ?

How about downloading the trial version of Polar View ? It's only £25 to buy and you already have the charts.
Click to expand...

Sorry - our posts crossed

Yes, I agree, I think Tom should at least try Polar View software.
It didn't cost me anything to try it out.
IMO, it's a really fair thing to do - give you 30 days free trial of the complete program - you can really get the feel of it first.

BTW - I haven't yet convinced myself about OpenCPN - I'm still using a very old copy of Memory Map which does everything I need but I still like to keep my eyes on what's out there.
 
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