chart software
- Thread starter med2463
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I've been using Offshore Navigator from Maptech with the USGlobalSat hockeypuck USB antenna, and have been very happy with it. I learned about it when my FIL sent me the free version they used to give away in boater safety courses. The only thing it wouldn't do is show real time location via GPS. I called them, and they sent me a disk with the full version for something like $100 without the printed documentation (which is in the help screens anyway).
Uses free NOAA chart downloads.
Not cheap to buy these days, though, and they now have more advanced versions for more advanced prices.
Uses free NOAA chart downloads.
Not cheap to buy these days, though, and they now have more advanced versions for more advanced prices.
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5747.0.html
Answers the questions about sources of the really great BU-353 and software
Answers the questions about sources of the really great BU-353 and software
I bought a 'sirf III' something or other USB GPS fob from ebay for around $30 about 18 months ago, and am using it ... ok just playing with it on a small ASUS eee, using OpenCPN. It works well.
On the boat, I'm currently using a LOWRANCE handheld GPS I got for $5 at a flea market.
If anyone's unsure of what's inside a GPS USB fob... it's basically a GPS chip that constantly spews NMEA GPS sentences, and a serial-to-USB chip that interfaces the NMEA serial to USB. So, to consume the GPS output, the software simply needs to find the virtual serial port and read the data, and most of the charting apps know how to find it. In Linux, there's gpsd, which takes the GPS data stream and makes it available to multiple apps.
On the boat, I'm currently using a LOWRANCE handheld GPS I got for $5 at a flea market.
If anyone's unsure of what's inside a GPS USB fob... it's basically a GPS chip that constantly spews NMEA GPS sentences, and a serial-to-USB chip that interfaces the NMEA serial to USB. So, to consume the GPS output, the software simply needs to find the virtual serial port and read the data, and most of the charting apps know how to find it. In Linux, there's gpsd, which takes the GPS data stream and makes it available to multiple apps.
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