HAVE ANY OF YOU BUDGET MINDED SAILERS USED THE FREE DOWN LOAD ENC NOAA CHARTS. CAN THAV BE USED WITH ANY OF THE BIG NAME NAV PROGRAMS LIKE MAPTECH OR NOBELTEC. I KNOW ABOUT MAXSEA. HAS ANY ONE USED ONE OF THE FREE S-57 CHART READERS THANKS FOR ANY INFO WILL
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Dave Mauney
Tried the charts today
Just happen to try the charts. They have some coverage and are building. I down loaded the Fugawi viewer and it worked well. GARtrip in Denmark (near freeware) will be able to read these format charts in version 2.06 which I hope will be released near the end of the year. (www.gartrip.de) That will let a GPS and the NOAA Charts interact. Charts at link below.
Just happen to try the charts. They have some coverage and are building. I down loaded the Fugawi viewer and it worked well. GARtrip in Denmark (near freeware) will be able to read these format charts in version 2.06 which I hope will be released near the end of the year. (www.gartrip.de) That will let a GPS and the NOAA Charts interact. Charts at link below.
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Derek Rowell
I've tried the charts and the freebie viewers...
... and my opinion is that they're not quite ready for prime-time! For those who are not familiar with the concept of ENC's (Electronic Navigation Charts) see http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/ The ENC's from NOAA are fine, and new charts are being added almost daily, but the available viewers are demos and not really usable navigation tools. I downloaded SeeMyDENC from SevenC's, and the other (I think it is Caris(?)) free viewer, and while they work they had a lot of problems that would prevent them from being useful for navigation. As you probably know the ENC's are not actually charts, but databases from which charts can be constructed. Thus the software viewer has the responsibility of generating the actual chart. I believe there is at least one company (is it MaxSea(?)) that has a working commercially available viewer at this time. I think the ENC concept is the wave of the future. What I would like to see is a group of software people get together and create an "Open-ENC" project that would produce a public domain ENC Viewer/Navigation package with freely available source code - just like the Linux operating system and the Gnu open source software. Goodbye Nobeltec, etc! Anybody else interested? It's a big project... Derek
... and my opinion is that they're not quite ready for prime-time! For those who are not familiar with the concept of ENC's (Electronic Navigation Charts) see http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/ The ENC's from NOAA are fine, and new charts are being added almost daily, but the available viewers are demos and not really usable navigation tools. I downloaded SeeMyDENC from SevenC's, and the other (I think it is Caris(?)) free viewer, and while they work they had a lot of problems that would prevent them from being useful for navigation. As you probably know the ENC's are not actually charts, but databases from which charts can be constructed. Thus the software viewer has the responsibility of generating the actual chart. I believe there is at least one company (is it MaxSea(?)) that has a working commercially available viewer at this time. I think the ENC concept is the wave of the future. What I would like to see is a group of software people get together and create an "Open-ENC" project that would produce a public domain ENC Viewer/Navigation package with freely available source code - just like the Linux operating system and the Gnu open source software. Goodbye Nobeltec, etc! Anybody else interested? It's a big project... Derek
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RonD
ENC
The ENC viewer provided by NOAA is just a demo tool & not intended to be a serious navigation package. The products are in a digital vector format (structured/stored as a database), which is where this is all headed. The old physical (drawn on multiple sheets) map/chart masters used to lithograph the paper maps/charts were initially (first phase) digitally scanned (raster charts), but that format will phase out; vector maps/charts are the second phase. Most initial vector offerings were digitized from the older paper chart masters, but gradually new satellite imagery will be digitized to update & replace them. What we're seeing is the result of a long-term Gov't strategy to get out of the map/chart publishing business and focus on its inherently Gov't function of mastering & maintaining the underlying digitized database. Private industry is better suited to developing, marketing, and supporting the end-user products and services. One thing that ENS will do is establish a de-facto Open Standard for digital map/chart products. That done, anyone with the smarts & capital can develop end-user products & services to utilize the publicly available data. Open market free competition is generally a good thing for consumers. This has created somewhat of a dichotomy in the industry regarding what their business focus is/will be (e.g., what is their product? who are their customers?). Take MapTech, for instance. Their traditional product line has been to re-package the Gov't map/chart data into digital and paper products for consumer use. If you purchase their Digital ChartKit, for instance, you get free their Chart Navigator software (also a free downloadable from their website). They sell separately their enhanced version of the software (Off-shore Navigator) to use on-board. So, are they a software house or a map/chart house, or both? If ENS takes off as an open standard, will that drive a change to their business strategy? My guess is they (and just about all the other companies) will shift to being predominantly a software & services provider and allow people using their product to download directly from NOAA any/all the ENS maps/charts they want. Could a bunch of techie/boaters develop their own open freeware to do the navigation & planning functions -- sure! But you'll be fighting a competitive commercial marketplace that can sell those products at fairly low prices. The key for us consumers is to encourage & support the idea & substance of Open Standards for map/chart data, and the Gov't business strategy of putting the maps/charts on-line for free download by anyone. And as citizens to insist that our Gov't devote the priorities and resources to maintaining the accuracy of those data. --Ron
The ENC viewer provided by NOAA is just a demo tool & not intended to be a serious navigation package. The products are in a digital vector format (structured/stored as a database), which is where this is all headed. The old physical (drawn on multiple sheets) map/chart masters used to lithograph the paper maps/charts were initially (first phase) digitally scanned (raster charts), but that format will phase out; vector maps/charts are the second phase. Most initial vector offerings were digitized from the older paper chart masters, but gradually new satellite imagery will be digitized to update & replace them. What we're seeing is the result of a long-term Gov't strategy to get out of the map/chart publishing business and focus on its inherently Gov't function of mastering & maintaining the underlying digitized database. Private industry is better suited to developing, marketing, and supporting the end-user products and services. One thing that ENS will do is establish a de-facto Open Standard for digital map/chart products. That done, anyone with the smarts & capital can develop end-user products & services to utilize the publicly available data. Open market free competition is generally a good thing for consumers. This has created somewhat of a dichotomy in the industry regarding what their business focus is/will be (e.g., what is their product? who are their customers?). Take MapTech, for instance. Their traditional product line has been to re-package the Gov't map/chart data into digital and paper products for consumer use. If you purchase their Digital ChartKit, for instance, you get free their Chart Navigator software (also a free downloadable from their website). They sell separately their enhanced version of the software (Off-shore Navigator) to use on-board. So, are they a software house or a map/chart house, or both? If ENS takes off as an open standard, will that drive a change to their business strategy? My guess is they (and just about all the other companies) will shift to being predominantly a software & services provider and allow people using their product to download directly from NOAA any/all the ENS maps/charts they want. Could a bunch of techie/boaters develop their own open freeware to do the navigation & planning functions -- sure! But you'll be fighting a competitive commercial marketplace that can sell those products at fairly low prices. The key for us consumers is to encourage & support the idea & substance of Open Standards for map/chart data, and the Gov't business strategy of putting the maps/charts on-line for free download by anyone. And as citizens to insist that our Gov't devote the priorities and resources to maintaining the accuracy of those data. --Ron
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Vern Bolen
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Todd Osborne (Windwalker)
It's about making money!
Caris eqs ENC barely worked for me. Not really useable. I agree with most of the discussion about the future of the industry, but have a further observation. I talked to the Nobletec rep about ENC & he mentioned that the Gov't ENC developers were asking them (Nobletec & others) to create software to read their maps, but the rep said that the ENC charts were not very good. Reading between the lines, why would a company that can charge some money for chart reading programs, and LOTS of money for the electronic charts themselves, begin providing software that renders their expensive charts obsolete? That's why there has been the stonewalling of ENC capable viewers. Stay tuned, someone will develop decent software, & then the "free lunch" of copying NOAA charts & selling them for a fortune will be over!
Caris eqs ENC barely worked for me. Not really useable. I agree with most of the discussion about the future of the industry, but have a further observation. I talked to the Nobletec rep about ENC & he mentioned that the Gov't ENC developers were asking them (Nobletec & others) to create software to read their maps, but the rep said that the ENC charts were not very good. Reading between the lines, why would a company that can charge some money for chart reading programs, and LOTS of money for the electronic charts themselves, begin providing software that renders their expensive charts obsolete? That's why there has been the stonewalling of ENC capable viewers. Stay tuned, someone will develop decent software, & then the "free lunch" of copying NOAA charts & selling them for a fortune will be over!
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Dave Mauney
Vern for Fugawi viewer
The URL is http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/resource.htm The link is in the list of readers on the page. Good Winds Dave s/v DAMWEGAS
The URL is http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/resource.htm The link is in the list of readers on the page. Good Winds Dave s/v DAMWEGAS
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Derek Rowell
Fugawi ENC Viewers/Nav Package
I just downloaded the free Fugawi viewer. It seems to be a lot more stable than the other two (SevenCs and Caris). It seems however that they have chosen to not show many of the text labels and other details that are available. (You can find more information in Query mode but it is very awkward to use.) Has anybody purchased the full featured Fugawi ENC navigation package? I am wondering whether its viewer has more features than the freebie. At $198 ($99 upgrade from Fugawi 3) it is a little too expensive to purchase without some reassurance. I would want a little more than is in the demo viewer before I purchased it. (I am an old Fugawi user but I switched to Maptech Offshore Navigator because the quality of the zoomed-out charts is much superior) Derek
I just downloaded the free Fugawi viewer. It seems to be a lot more stable than the other two (SevenCs and Caris). It seems however that they have chosen to not show many of the text labels and other details that are available. (You can find more information in Query mode but it is very awkward to use.) Has anybody purchased the full featured Fugawi ENC navigation package? I am wondering whether its viewer has more features than the freebie. At $198 ($99 upgrade from Fugawi 3) it is a little too expensive to purchase without some reassurance. I would want a little more than is in the demo viewer before I purchased it. (I am an old Fugawi user but I switched to Maptech Offshore Navigator because the quality of the zoomed-out charts is much superior) Derek
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