Sea clear, visichart and google earth

[pcatterall]

I have been using Seaclear and the charts with some success on my little Dell lap top on board ( but not yet in the wheel house) It all works fine and I have the nasa AIS working with it.
One little question is it possible to get the charts onto the hard drive so I dont have to use my (seperate on this lap top) CD drive all the time.?
I rather like the look of the Visichart product but dont understand how it works with the Google Earth data.
I assume that the Google Earth data is received direct from the internet?
Does this mean that the information used in theVisichart visualisations comes via the internet as well ? this would make it usefull as a planning tool at home but no good on the boat. I guess that it would be possible to associate selected harbour view visualisations from google earth with the mapping and present them on a disc?
Can anyone explain please?

 

[earlybird]

Not really answering your question re. Seasclear, but Oziexplorer, a similar type of programme, has the facility to use internet -based maps such as Google Earth, Google Maps etc. The image is shown in the form of a calibrated chart to enable GPS position plotting, waypoint or route creation etc. A certain amount of the last image to be used seems to be stored on the PC, but an internet connection is really required for extended use. I'm not aware of any ability to store large areas of downloaded image.
OTOH, Ozi chart files can be copied from CD to a hard drive, I'd expect Seaclear to be similar

 

[electrosys]

I have been using Seaclear and the charts with some success on my little Dell lap top on board ( but not yet in the wheel house) It all works fine and I have the nasa AIS working with it.
One little question is it possible to get the charts onto the hard drive so I dont have to use my (seperate on this lap top) CD drive all the time.?

Clarification sought ...
By "the charts" - do you mean the UK folio on CD from visitmyharbour.com ? If so, then the answer is unfortunately 'no' - you cannot relocate those charts onto the hard drive, for security (UKHO copyright) reasons.

If you have some other kind of charts on CD, it might be possible - it all depends on what kind of charts they are, and what kind of copying protection is in place.

 

[jackh]

It might be possible to use an ISO creator to turn the CD into an ISO file (various free ones are floating round on the internet -- I've used "LC ISO creator" with some success. You'll find with a quick google).
You can then mount the .iso file you've created as if it were a CD in a "virtual" CD drive using any one of a number of programs. I quite like Slysoft's Virtual Clonedrive (again, google is your friend).

On a more general note, ripping CDs to iso files is a quick and easy way to back them up for when they inevitably get lost/broken -- they can easily be burnt back on to new CD's as/when you need them, or run directly from the hard drive.

 

[pcatterall]

Tried the ISO creator download and it downloaded ilivid which seems to limited to down loading vidios. Perhaps the old brain is missing something ( like millions of 'little grey cells'!!) ??

 

[electrosys]

Tried the ISO creator download and it downloaded ilivid which seems to limited to down loading vidios. Perhaps the old brain is missing something ( like millions of 'little grey cells'!!) ??

Not at all - it's just the latest attempt to get people to download what they don't want and never asked for ...
You need to look around for the right 'download' button - hit the wrong one and you get a copy of ilivid instead ...

What they hope to achieve by this strategy is anyone's guess - it's hardly a recommendation for a product when it's foisted on you in this devious and underhand way.


If you still want these programs - try these direct links:
http://download1us.softpedia.com/dl...051147/software/cd_dvd_tools/LCISOCreator.zip
http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html

 

[Lodesman77]

Depending on your success with the current route, I would suggest trying ImgBurn to create an iso file from the CD, and alcohol52 to provide a virtual CD drive. There are others but I used this combination with success on my netbook: -

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition

 

[Stu Jackson]

I have been using Seaclear and the charts with some success on my little Dell lap top on board ( but not yet in the wheel house) It all works fine and I have the nasa AIS working with it.
One little question is it possible to get the charts onto the hard drive so I dont have to use my (seperate on this lap top) CD drive all the time.?

I have Seaclear on a disc with all the charts. The instruction "manual" (help screen) has pretty "clear" instructions to create a folder on your hard drive in which to copy the chart files from the CD onto the hard drive. They need to be in a specifically named folder so the program can find them.

 

[jackh]

Sorry, I should really post links. The one's electrosys put up should get you sorted. Let us know how you get one. Good luck!

 

[BlueChip]

Clarification sought ...
By "the charts" - do you mean the UK folio on CD from visitmyharbour.com ? If so, then the answer is unfortunately 'no' - you cannot relocate those charts onto the hard drive, for security (UKHO copyright) reasons.

If you have some other kind of charts on CD, it might be possible - it all depends on what kind of charts they are, and what kind of copying protection is in place.

You can get a USB license dongle from those people that lets you run the Admiralty charts from HD, so you no longer need the chart cd in a drive.

 

[electrosys]

You can get a USB license dongle from those people that lets you run the Admiralty charts from HD, so you no longer need the chart cd in a drive.

That is quite true, but the OP has his charts on a CD - and at the time of writing, he still hasn't confirmed whether his charts are indeed the Admiralty chart package from Visitmyharbour. So they may not be ...
(Indeed, with all this talk of making ISO's from the CD in order to defeat copy protection, I rather hope that they are not.)

 

[Overner]

Admiralty charts on DVD

Just to quickly confirm, if the OPs charts are from VisitMyHarbour, they will be on a DVD, very unlikely that they are on a CD.

The VMH charts (VisiCharts/SeaClear charts) are locked to DVD which is resistant to cloning using methods outlined in this post. A solution to copying these won't be found on google either.

Here at VMH we have been working on a way to get the SeaClear charts 100% installed on a laptop/netbook but still protect them. At present SeaClear goes on the HD, the charts remain on DVD/USB.

Think we've done it, so for 2012 SeaClear packages the whole lot is installed on the HD, and the DVD or USB only acts as an "Ignition Key". This is faster, and the physical medium (Dvd or USB) can be taken out once the package is fired up. We've got a couple of these "out in the wild" for testing, results look encouraging.

As at present, the package can be used on multiple machines, not tied to just one. The 2012 chart package will be out by March.

VisiCharts will still be locked to DVD/USB, we havent worked out a way of installing these yet, but most just use these for research at home anyway.

Some slightly off topic news.. VMH will also be producing their own UK/Ireland 2012 chart packages using Maptech's BSB format (USA/UK joint effort here). These work with virtually all PC plotters inc Open CPN. The Maptech BSB format is fully installed and locked to 2 machines. Price target under £50.


Steve at VMH

 

[pcatterall]

May thanks Steve and everyone.
Sorry for the slack terminology calling the DVD a CD ( age is the excuse)
As I explained my drive is external and it would be nice not to have to have it plugged in all the time, plus I have to remember to take the disc with me when I go hom eto use my PC. plus the disc will get damaged!!
So I guess that there is no solution except to wait for the 'new version' ?
Copyright is, of course an issue, as I made my living making maps I can hardly advocate misuse of the data.

On the same subject I would like to ask if there is a way to get the coordinates that I create with SeaClear into a file that I can use and transfer as required to my Garmin trackplotter.
At the moment we are reading the coords from the SeaClear 'form' writing them down and manually entering them into the plotter...tedious and error prone!!
We used to be able to do this with coords taken off maps we scanned in and geo-referenced.?

 

[Overner]

Routes to Garmin

Hi There,

The new version out by March should solve a lot. You'll still need to remember to take the DVD home ! Suggest moving up to the USB dongle at that time, it fits on a key ring and is custom made for using as an "Ignition Key"

Can be updated each year too at low cost via download.

Right, Garmins and route transfers. Yes it can be done fairly easily. On the DVD you'll find "Useful Programs" fish out the G7toWin, unpack from the ZIP folder and leave the .exe on your desktop.

When you make a route (while still in route editor) look at the top, you'll see "File". Expand that and you'll see "Route" and then "Export" Choose Export, the first choice is to save as a G7toWin file. Give it a name and save to desktop.

Now drag that little file into the G7toWin .exe. You'll see all the waypoints listed there. Use FILE >>> SAVE AS in this little program to save your file in Garmins .gpx format. (2nd one down I think)

If you can connect your Garmin to the computer via a USB lead, you should be able to inject the Garmin GPX file directly to your GPS set, all waypoints intact.

Any probs give me a buzz tomorrow and I'll run through it all. Also best to get the PDF manual on the DVD and print it out (30 pages). You'll find stuff in there about Seaclear and Garmins... and how to interface the two.

All the best,

Steve at VMH

 

[BlueChip]

Steve - I have got the DVD version and want to move to the USB dongle version so I can use Seaclear with preloaded arcs charts on my driveless notebook.
Will there be an upgrade path for existing users to the new version and dongle?

 

[Overner]

Upgrade to dongle

Yes, there will be a good upgrade offer. We'll email everyone when 2012 version is out, basically there will be a £10 discount for returning the old DVD and either getting the new DVD, OR upgrading to USB dongle.

Owners of the dongle will get the upgrade for £20 via download, DVD owners will be able to exchange Discs for £20 plus P&P, and those wishing to upgrade DVD to USB, about £45 plus P&P.

Got more international areas coming for 2012 inc. a massive wide area Transatlantic SeaClear Chart package. (Med to Mexico, Brazil to Ushant)

All the best,

Steve at VMH