Free downloadable Chartplotter software and maps.

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Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

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Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Just a note on some free software that may benefit some people here who may or may not know about it.

I've been playing with this for a little while and will definitely incorporate it as a backup system to the Garmin plotter we have on the boat. The Open Source plotter (Open CPN) is quite intuitive and straight forward to set up and the link to the Global Charts (yup the whole world) are good and the location is virus free.

So if I'm preaching to the choir thanks for reading. Hopefully this helps someone that may have a laptop computer that could do double duty as a chart plotter if need be. Hook up a USB GPS antenna and your off to the races.


http://opencpn.org/ocpn/download

http://www.filecrop.com/82592164/index.html
 
Igetit

Igetit

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May 26, 2011
85
Hunter 270 Lake Monroe, Indiana
Navionics has ported their app to the Andtoid platform. It seems to have the common functionality and a decent selection of maps available.

I'm on a smallish inland lake but bought it for training/familiarity as I plan to expand my experience and do a bareboat charter one day. I'm running Android on an HTC Evo phone.
 
ggrizzard

ggrizzard

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May 27, 2004
2,057
Hunter 30_74-83 Ponce Inlet FL
Laptop...Check
OPEN CPN... Check (Up and running)
Global Charts...Not a clue, as the link tells me nothing.
Any way to decode the "TECHESE"?

Thanks,
G.
 
Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

.
Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Ggrizard download all the charts in the second website I posted. They're compressed so your going to need Winzip which is free as well here http://www.winzip.com/downwz.htm .

Then when you get them all downloaded and unzipped they need to be unzipped into a new folder you create. The files are large and will take a bit of time with the free service so be patient. It's the five files under the label " This File is from a multipart Archive..."

The next step is to go into CPN and tell the software where the chart folder is that the software will be referencing the charts from. It should be reasonably straight forward to do just read through the online guide.

At some point you'll need a GPS USB antenna to have a GPS signal to work with the software, they're available at most GPS specialty shops online or maybe even Best Buy.
 
ggrizzard

ggrizzard

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May 27, 2004
2,057
Hunter 30_74-83 Ponce Inlet FL
Thanks Paul and Pilot...
Forgot to list GPS Puck antenna - Check
I will try to 'navigate' the chart website again... I'm on the water now and could use the system up and running.
G.
 
ggrizzard

ggrizzard

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May 27, 2004
2,057
Hunter 30_74-83 Ponce Inlet FL
OK guys, I've got charts integrated into CPN. I've got GPS humming away in it's own dialog box spitting out Lats and Lons like crazy.

NOW how do I get the two to talk nice to each other?

I've opened "Settings" in CPN and put in the values I think are correct, but no dice so far.

C'mon guys we're in the home stretch. Don't quit on me now.

Seriously, Thanks for all the help.
G.
 
ggrizzard

ggrizzard

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May 27, 2004
2,057
Hunter 30_74-83 Ponce Inlet FL
So there I was at 10 thousand feet on my back when the stall warning horn sounded, er...
Wrong story.

So, there I was at mile marker 775 and it dawns on me that if I can fly airplanes I should be able to interface a free nav program with free charts. I mean how hard can it be?

Well, If you know that the GPS puck must always be plugged into the original USB port on your laptop that you used when you set up all this stuff, it's easy as a double click.

Otherwise you're pulling out your Chinese/English/Canadian thesaurus and your hair all day for three days.

But yes, I made it to mile marker 780 just fine with my little red boat avatar, thank you very much!
 
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