T-Pain Is On A Boat: RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software

To those trying chart plotters just watch out for a couple of possible traps if you are using scanned pictures of paper charts. JPG, Tiff, BM, etc.

1 Double check the calibration when you go to use each chart. Check lat/long on the chart grid are correct.

2 You can get cumulative errors from the mild distortion of the paper chart that has been scanned plus the normal random GPS errors. Scooting along within 30m/100ft of land using the plotter alone is not recommended as you can have cumulative errors up to 100m/300ft.

From: electricboats@yahoogroups.com [mailto:electricboats@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Daniel Michaels
Sent: Tuesday, 9 November 2010 10:54 a.m.
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software

I am going to try Open CN just for kicks Sea Clear worked great.

Dan

--- On Mon, 11/8/10, Kerry Thomas <kjthomas@ihug.co.nz> wrote:

From: Kerry Thomas <kjthomas@ihug.co.nz>
Subject: RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, November 8, 2010, 1:18 PM

You need to first be able to convert them to an image format such as jpeg. Not sure if you can from PDF. Someone here may know.

Mapcal can then convert to WCI for Seaclear or open CN.

Personally I preferred Seaclear over open CN, but really personal choice. Both work fine.

From: electricboats@yahoogroups.com [mailto:electricboats@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Daniel Michaels
Sent: Tuesday, 9 November 2010 4:43 a.m.
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software

I downloaded it already, but the carts I have for the Mississippi are PDF. I need to make them work with Sea Clear

http://skipper-dan.blogspot.com/

Dan

--- On Mon, 11/8/10, Kerry Thomas <kjthomas@ihug.co.nz> wrote:

From: Kerry Thomas <kjthomas@ihug.co.nz>
Subject: RE: [Electric Boats] Chart software
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, November 8, 2010, 1:11 AM

Hi

I use Seaclear which is an excellent freeware chart plotter. You can
download and calibrate free NOAA charts, Hydro. LINZ, in New Zealand using
the mapcal utility which comes with it. You can also use any scanned
Mercator or transverse Mercator projection map or chart.

I work on commercial ships and use seaclear on my laptop. The big advantage
to me is you can treat the charts like paper charts and update whenever you
like. Most commercial chartplotters update yearly at best.

-----Original Message-----
From: electricboats@yahoogroups.com [mailto:electricboats@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Daniel
Sent: Monday, 8 November 2010 5:55 p.m.
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Electric Boats] Chart software

A while back someone had a program to make usable charts from google earth.
Did it come from here? I want to see if I can make usable charts from the
150 pdf charts I just downloaded of the lower Mississippi.

Dan

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