OpenCPN nav software

PascalG

PascalG

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came across this software, someone posted the link on another forum. Free, opensource, and pretty good.

i tried it this morning, better than SeaClearII. easy to configure, it loaded the NOAA charts right away and recognized my USB GPS without issues.

route function easier than SeaClearII and one very nice feature is that it has tides and current data, unlike SCII.

http://bigdumboat.com/cpnindex.html
 
It is an active Open Source project. So far, pretty good. It handled BSB and ENC charts. imho, ENC handling is still a bit awkward, but it is still better than most.

The price is right ( free ), the chart prices are right ( free ). I don't know about how it handles devices ( ie: GPS ) , but the primary developer has stated that it is primarily a "cruiser's tool, rather than for planning", so the observed bias is understandable.

Worth using, or, at least, keeping an eye on. I use it...
 
Pascal, thanks for the info, I'd like to give it a try. I have been using Seaclear II for several years and the biggest gripe I have about that program is that the charts are not presented in a consistent way - like North up, for example. It would also be nice to be able to have a "Heading up" chart orientation option.

Thanks, Ted
 
I downloaded the software. Seems very similar (right down to the look of the buttons) to some maptech navigator free software I downloaded several years ago. I don't know if it's still available but I like the Maptech software a bit better. Seems to have more functions and It's easier to zoom in/out with the mouse and the right click has more features available. I only use this for trip planning on my desktop so I can't attest to how it functions with a GPS antenna while on board.
 
yeah, i notice some buttons were the same as Maptech. I dont' think the free maptech is available anymore, at least not with tides which expired last year in my version. and the free navigator is only for planning, not live GPS tracking. I use it mostly as a back up when navigating.
 
One of the best things about this software is the fact that it is open source. That means the source code is available and changes/fixes/improvements can be made by anyone with some programming skills.

I'm running it on a Linux based laptop and it works great so far.
 
only complaint i have so far, is that it takes a few seconds to load the chart when scaling in and out. But i'm running a barebone, 4+ year old laptop right now. I just ordered a new laptop/tablet so i'll see how it runs on that.

one nice thing though is that you can see a preview of the chart when you hover on top of the chart bars at the bottom.
 
Just hooked it up to a USB GPS device and it works flawlessly.

Nice.

Interesting side note, in Linux there is a piece of software called GPSd that turns the GPS into a shared device. Lets multiple software/computers access the single GPS device. Very nice!
 
with Win. USB GPS use a port emulator. multiple programs can access the data stream. On mine, I run both SeaClearII (now OpenCPN) and Goops to upload position data on my website
 
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