Navigation Software

Open Cpn question

I have loaded this program ,installed the NOAA charts as well as my Canadian charts I watched the charts load into the program Now when I click on charts I get a window showing a directory for the NOAA charts but not the Canadian ones
The directory doesn't list the charts or there #s How do I bring up a list of charts to view them ?

Bert::

ocean said:

I have loaded this program ,installed the NOAA charts as well as my Canadian charts I watched the charts load into the program Now when I click on charts I get a window showing a directory for the NOAA charts but not the Canadian ones
The directory doesn't list the charts or there #s How do I bring up a list of charts to view them ?
Bert::

Click to expand...

If you are talking about the CHS charts then you need to install the BSB4 plugin to view them in OpenCPN. Do a search on the OpenCPN sub-forum on Cruiser's Forum or look on OpenCPN.org for directions. I've found that plugin to be not entirely intuitive but it does work well once you get it correctly loaded. If you post your questions on Cruiser's Forum there is an active community of O users who will come quickly to your aid.

Marin said:

We have no use for computer-based navigation (laptop, etc), preferring dedicated units. But there is a very nice, simple charting app for the iPad which we have and use in the same way we use paper charts--- to get the "big picture" or to scan or peruse the waters around us as we go.

Click to expand...

One of the things I really like about OpenCPN is that I can use computers that I don't take to the boat to plan trips with no incremental cost. I like being about to pull up the charts when I'm thinking about a trip, long before I get to the boat.

Even on the boat, I find that I can plan a route much faster with the PC. Zooming in and out, dragging and setting waypoints is just so much faster with a mouse.

bobc said:

One of the things I really like about OpenCPN is that I can use computers that I don't take to the boat to plan trips with no incremental cost. I like being about to pull up the charts when I'm thinking about a trip, long before I get to the boat.

Click to expand...

I'm not as disciplined about it as I should be but I try to keep routes and tracks and on a thumb drive so they are easy to move back and forth between my "regular" laptop and the nav laptop. And I agree, having quick access to the software and charts on my regular computer is wonderful. I've also got something called Teamviewer installed on both computers so whenever they're both online I have access to the nav computer from my regular laptop. Any remote desktop software would accomplish the same thing but Teamviewer is really powerful and free for personal use.

We have been using C-Map, PC based since 2001. Recently we had some compatibility issues specifically with GPS drivers with Windows 7, 64 bit. We have been experimenting with OpenCPN for the last year. Last week we started using the their latest version 3.2.0, Build 2013-02-26. It solved our compatibility issues and reads all our world charts (different formats). Between the PlugIns they offer and the different chart formats plus a few things on the horizon OpenCPN works for us. For the curious, download the manual, I think you'll be surprised.

Marin said:

We have no use for computer-based navigation (laptop, etc), preferring dedicated units. But there is a very nice, simple charting app for the iPad .....

If you have a 3G/4G iPad, it has a built-in, stand-alone GPS receiver so it can track your position on the Navimatics charts in real time with no connectivity required at all. It will even leave a track of your boat's progress.

Click to expand...

That is what I do. Who was it that said "simplicity is the key to design"? A good stand alone MFD is hard to beat.

waypoints on open

I have been experimenting with open cpn routes with points seem to work well but is there somewhere in the program that lets you make and store waypoints so that I can make a route from one waypoint to another or just check the distance and degrees?
Bert

Here's a screenshot. The 'create route' tool at the top (segmented arrow on a blue background) does this.

EDIT: I see you wanted to save the WPs....this might not do that. I'll have to play with it. But it will allow you to enter a route by clicking and you can measure distances between WPs or the entire route.

Make the route with the CREATE ROUTE tool then right click over the route to COPY AS KML. Then you can open the properties to view the course and distance between WPs or just float your mouse over the route to see the route data.

SeaHorse II said:

That is what I do. Who was it that said "simplicity is the key to design"? A good stand alone MFD is hard to beat.

Click to expand...

I love that concept. You can't buy a good stand alone chart plotter with a 10 inch touch screen for 600 bucks but you can buy an ipad for that much.
wish they made a 12" ipad I would buy one

FlyWright said:

But it will allow you to enter a route by clicking and you can measure distances between WPs or the entire route.

Click to expand...

By measuring the distance between WPs, you create a course that is a series of straight lines. Is there any device that takes the bends and turns such as in rivers, etc that will actually measure those curved rhumb lines?

SeaHorse II said:

By measuring the distance between WPs, you create a course that is a series of straight lines. Is there any device that takes the bends and turns such as in rivers, etc that will actually measure those curved rhumb lines?

Click to expand...

Put in eough waypoints and you get it pretty close...been doing it a lot the last 1700 miles and opencpn does it faster than any mfd
I've ever used.

SeaHorse II said:

By measuring the distance between WPs, you create a course that is a series of straight lines. Is there any device that takes the bends and turns such as in rivers, etc that will actually measure those curved rhumb lines?

Click to expand...

It comes close enough for government work.

I hear that there's this new gadget called a Map Wheel that does just that on paper charts. An anonymous marine gadget fairy and fellow TFer just had one delivered to my front door.

We bought a Map Wheel not long after we bought the boat in 1998. Pretty handy little gadget, particularly when figuring out fuel burn for a longer trip (like several weeks) that will incorporate a whole lot of twisting and turning multi-waypoint routes through islands and stuff.

If you use it all the time you will get used to its somewhat unintuitive scale setting procedures. If you use it only a few times a year as we do, don't lose the instructions.