Opening ENC's???

J

jtybt15

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I'm a little late to the party seein' as I'm just getting around to trying to use electronic charts.

Anyone have a good FREE program that will open the .000, .001 etc. thingys you get from the NOAA ENC charts?

That's another of my problems...I'm lost trying to figure out computer stuff.

Ask me how much to mill an engine block to get the best 'quench' or other things needed to build an engine for optimum performance, That I can do.

Computers????....[:I]
 
Charlie

You don't have a single problem. Only a world of opportunities !
 
Bill,
Now what do I do with it?[:I][:O]

Do I need a separate GPS antenna or is there some way to interface with my (older)lowrance chartplotter.
 
quote:
Originally posted by jtybt15

Bill,
Now what do I do with it?[:I][:O]

Do I need a separate GPS antenna or is there some way to interface with my (older)lowrance chartplotter.

Click to expand...


It might be easiest to just get a "hockey puck" style USB powered GPS to plug into your computer.
 
Heh, heh... You didn't say anything about interfacing! [:-bonc01]

Actually, I only use it for "armchair cruising and planning. I know that you can interface it, but have never even explored that option. ( It IS, after all, designed to be used w/ GPS. )

But what Capt. Bill1 says is likely correct, and easiest: use a USB "hockey puck". They are rather cheap.

---------------

Go back to the website. They have an online user manual that should cover most applications.
 
I tried open CPN and found it to be a bit klunky yet. Their S-57 ENC support is not very good at chart selection, however their raster support is much smoother.
I picked up one of those USB hockey pucks this Spring. The problem with them is that they do not average out the data, they pound the cpu with it. The rapid fire updates will consume an older single core computer. I am hoping that underway things will get better on the older box but I'm concerned.
Hooking up a handheld Garmin yields much better results on older cpus.
 
I ve used openCPN for a couple of years and now Polarnavy since earlier this year and have never had any CPU load issues. My laptop is a basic 2 year old model and before that was running it on a 5 year old basic laptop. And in addition to the nav software i run my webcam and the gps tracking uploader

Probably logged over 10k miles using those 2 programs

If you are buying a USB gps, make sure the driver (program which allow your comPuter to talk to the gps) is compatible with your computer as many USB drivers will not work with 64 bit windows. Personally i prefer a bluetooth gps, also under $100

Try openCpn, the only thing you will need to do is tell the program where to find the charts, it s in Settings but if you can't figure it out ask and one of us will help you...
 
Actually the cpu load issue was with Nobeltec and the puck. However, OpenCPN is still klunky with S-57, much better with Raster charts.
 
OK. Got Polar Navy downloaded and open CPN. Starting with west coast charts all stuck in a folder on the desk top. I'll download raster charts next.

I've had this laptop for a week and it's a cheapie single core with 64 bit thingy. What USB GPS antenna is compatible with it???

I also have an older Acer netbook that I don't use much. I was thinking of using that for the boat. Would it hold all the stuff and work? I got a 1 TB portable hard drive I can put stuff in. Will that help out with the Acer?
 
I have used OpenCPN for planning, exporting, and real time navigation and I think it works well. I prefer the Raster charts over the vector ENCs, as others have mentioned, more detail, the classic look, and easier to load. Plus, everything is free. It is worth a shot, and it is pretty user friendly.
 
With the older Acer you can use a basic USB GPS... with the 64 bit machine, look at the GlobalSat bluetooth GPS, mine is the BT368 I think (i'm not on the boat...). it works very well with nearly automatic set up, Windows Bluetooth service recognized it right away.

in OpenCPN, go to tools and in the chart tab, select the folder your charts are located. you shoudl probably move your chart folder first, from the desktop to you document folder, to avoid cluttering your desktop...
 
Pascal,
So I'd be able to load the nav stuff onto the portable hard drive and connect it to the Acer with the USB GPS and things should work?

Would Polar Navy and Open CPN both open the nav charts easily. I'm not quite figuring out how they go about doing it yet.
 
The charts dont take that much space, don't bother with an external drive. Just copy the charts over to the Acer, tell openCpn which folder they re in and you re done

The only thing you have to do, in either one, is tell them where tonfind the charts. Once that s set, charts will load up pretty much automatically. In openCPN you select the charts with the rectangles at the bottom, in polar it s automatic as you zoom in and out
 
Do you have to have a GPS antenna hooked up to get either program to load the charts? I've been trying to find a way to load the charts but nothing happens. The charts are in the same folder as both Nav programs.

OH! Maybe cuz I'm in the 64 bit laptop? could that be causing a problem?
 
No you you don't need gps to view charts, create routes and waypoints etc

Did you tell either program where to find the charts? Until you it s not going to work

In openCPN click on the wrench button, then chart tab and select the folder that contains the charts
 
Let's backstroke a little bit...

Charlie, IF you downloaded the "entire ENC map set" from the NOS/NOAA site, what you gor was a zip file.

Using the Windoze file manager ( "Explore" ), "expand" that file to a new file folder.

Then you can point OpenCPN to each separate mape flie sub-folder.

Another variant of this is, once you have expanded the zip file, copy the contents of each sub-folder to one large ( newly created ) "map folder"
, then point OpenCPN to that folder.

Maybe that will help a bit...
 
Registered with Active Captain (Thanks Pascal). Gonna go over your link.

Bill,
That zip sh*t is got me goin' in circles. I think I 'extracted' something and got a list of 'charts'(?) but I'm not getting how to direct open cpn to open them. I did like pascal said but the tool thingy didn't ask or indicate it would look for a file. I just played around with things and got nowhere.

I'm gonna go over pascal's link and see if I understand.
 
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