Personally, I am very particular to the products from PolarNavy.com.
They can read and tile BSB3 bitmap and SV57 vector charts which are the formats available free from NOAA.
As for getting PDF format charts into BSB format, there should be some BSB conversion tools available, as well as a geo-referencing program. It might not be an autoamted, scriptable workflow, but it should help out. The general idea will be to get the source file in a format that a BSB conversion package can read in. You then supply a few geo-reference coordinates and export the file to .KAP format.
A few years back, that was my only option for using free chart plotting software on a linux netbook. I bought the paper chart for my area (E-size, no less!) had it scanned at a service bureau and converted the .tiff file the service bureau supplied me to PNG. I forget the name of the app I used to then geo-reference that PNG file, but I now have a "home made BSB3 version of the chart for my local lake.
If the charts are available from NOAA, then use those. They're free and more importantly, kept up to date. You can automatically download updates if you want, but that excercise is out of scope for this group and is left up to the reader... PolarNavy works *really well* with these charts and also supports tides and GRIB weather overlay. Some parts are free, some stuff costs, but not much. Best part (for me) is that it runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. And it is visually "pure". I really like the look of the charts and instruments. I highly suggest you check it out.
/Jason
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Steamboat Willie <stmbtwle@...> wrote:
>
> There's a companion program with Sea Clear that allows you to make your own charts, and if I recall it will convert a JPG file to a format that Sea Clear can read. I remember converting Google Earth satellite pics to usable charts with it. However while Sea Clear could read them, my preferred software could not.Â
>
> --- On Mon, 11/8/10, Peter <peter@...> wrote:
>
> From: Peter <peter@...>
> Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Chart software
> To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Monday, November 8, 2010, 11:54 AM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Â
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>
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>
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>
>
> Hi,
>
> I tried SeaClear ... it's a great program. But I found OpenCPN a lot easier to use, more intuative, and more full-featured, including real-time tides and currents data.
>
> http://www.opencpn.org/
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Kerry Thomas" <kjthomas@> wrote:
>
> >
>
> > 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
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> > the mapcal utility which comes with it. You can also use any scanned
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> > Mercator or transverse Mercator projection map or chart.
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> >
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> > I work on commercial ships and use seaclear on my laptop. The big advantage
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> > to me is you can treat the charts like paper charts and update whenever you
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> > 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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> >
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> >
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> >
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> > ------------------------------------
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> >
>
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> >
>
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