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GPS software for PDAs

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johnsonp
Admiral

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USA
606 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/31/2006 : 00:18:24

Hello
Has anyone used this software OziExplorerCE.
pauj C250wk #719

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 12/31/2006 : 18:04:10

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by johnsonp
 Hello
Has anyone used this software OziExplorerCE.
pauj C250wk #719

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I don't own a PDA, so have not had a chance to try out any Windows CE apps, but if you would like to try out a GPS-ready nav package for a desktop/laptop PC, I recommend SeaClear II. Although is a freeware package, it is surprisingly feature-rich, and better yet, it seems to be rock-solid as far as it's stability. I have yet to see it crash even after many hours of session run time. The website URL is: http://www.sping.com/seaclear/

SeaClear is designed for use with raster charts in KAP, WCI, PNG, or BMP formats. The KAP and WCI file formats are best for charting as the geo-referencing calibration data are embedded right in the chart file; PNG and BMP files have to be calibrated separately, and BMP wastes a lot of disk space since it is not a compressed format. I use SeaClear with a Garmin E-Trex, and it works just fine; any Garmin or Magellan GPS that outputs NEMA sentences and has an RS-232 or USB port connector and cable should work. Other brands of GPS's might also work but have not been tested.

Once you have installed SeaClear, you will want a package called "G7toWIN" which is a utility used to upload/download and manipulate your GPS Tracklogs, Waypoints, and Routes. "G7toWIN" is also freeware. The URL is: http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/

NOTE: this software is available for both regular Windows and WindowsCE (I have not tried the CE version), there is also a MAC (or was it Linux?) version, I think.

What G7toWIN does: Your GPS has only a limited amount of on-board memory, and "G7toWIN" is used to download the GPS's memory to your PC for long-term storage. This is especially important if you want to save your GPS's "active tracklog" at full resolution. My E-trex has enough on-board memory for about 12,000 real-time trackpoints, which equates to maybe 1000 miles of driving if I use the unit to track a road trip in my car. The problem here is that when you "save" the active tracklog in the Garmin to a "named track", up to 90% of the trackpoints will be discarded! This is becasue "named" tracks have a limit on how many points they contain, this limit is only about 300 on my E-trex, other (more expensive) Garmin units raise this limit to 500~750, but still, you lose a LOT of data when saving the active log to a named track. The solution is to use "G7toWin" to download the active log to your PC or laptop every time it is getting close to full, then combine and edit them in your PC. G7toWin has functionality built in to combine Waypoints or Trackpoints from different files into one new file, which you can then edit and re-upload to the GPS. G7toWin can output it's own "native" format, *.G7T, or *.CSV files. CSV files are nice because you can load them into an Excel spreadsheet to sort or manipulate (Excel has a lot more powerful tools for data manipulation than G7toWin has itself). Once you are done in Excel, upload the edited CSV file back to G7toWin, then from there, re-upload back to your GPS.

NOTE: Tracklogs saved in *.G7T format can be imported directly into SeaClear, so you can display them on the applicable chart or map.

Okay, once you have the software, you will need SeaClear compatible charts, right? The good news is that you can get raster format navigational charts for free direct from NOAA, at least for US waters.
To download NOAA Raster Navigation Charts, use URL: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/download.htm

NOTE: These chart files are pretty big, 5 to 10 megabytes, so don't try top download a bunch of them on a dial-up connection. The actual charts are the files that have the *.KAP file extension - these are already geo-referenced and can be loaded directly into SeaClear. The *.BSB files that you see on the website contain additional geo-referencing data and are not needed by SeaClear.

NOTE: With some effort on your part, SeaClear can use ANY raster image as a "chart" if it shows useful ground imagery and can be calibrated (geo-referenced) to actual latitude and longitude at at least three or four points on the image. This means that rasterized road maps, USGS DRG topo maps, even aerial photo imagery from Google Earth, can all be used in SeaClear if you want to take the time to calibrate the image file. The SeaClear package comes with a utility, "MapCal II", which is used for this task. I have calibrated aerial photographs (from Google Earth) and USGS Quad Maps into SeaClear compatible WCI format, then displayed G7T tracklogs from my Garmin E-trex on them, so I know it works. Manual calibration is somewhat laborious; it takes about a half hour to calibrate a USGS 1:24000 quad map with 8 points, but at least the map download is free of charge. USGS Quad maps used to cost at least $12 each, then you would have to get them scanned, at a cost of about $10 each.

Last September, my wife and I took an Alaska cruise on a Holland-America ship (Statendam). I brought my laptop and the Garmin E-trex with the connector cable. The laptop had SeaClear installed on it, with all the NOAA KAP charts for Southeast Alaska. Every evening that we were underway, if I didn't have anything more interesting to do after dinner, I would haul the computer and GPS up to the Lido deck and set it up on a patio table. SeaClear can be set to automatically load the proper chart as soon as it is linked to the GPS and a position solution is obtained; after that, the vessel's position will move in real-time on the chart, leaving a red track line behind it, as long as the GPS is receiving at least 4 satellites. When the vessel reaches the edge of the current chart, the next adjacent chart will load automatically. It was REAL cool to watch the ship's progress on actual Nav charts this way. I just wish I could have left the GPS running 24/7 the whole two weeks, and captured the entire tracklog at full resolution. Anyway, the SeaClear software actually works in the field and does what it is supposed to do, which is something you can't always count on with freeware. There are commecial and shareware Nav packages like OziExplorer and Fugawi that are maybe fancier and perhaps more feature-rich or more user-friendly, but SeaClear and G7toWin have everything I will probably ever need for recreational use, for free.

Hope you find this of some use. If you try the WinCE version of G7toWin on your PDA, let me know how it works. I am thinking of buying a PDA with the Amazon.com Christmas gift certificate that I got from my sister-in-law.

Edited by - on

johnsonp
Admiral

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USA
606 Posts

Response Posted - 01/01/2007 : 20:33:53

Larry
I spent about 4 hours downloading,getting maps,converting maps,etc....using SeaClear.
I will have to get a Bluetooth for my laptop next and try it with Bluetooth GPS.
I can not find the Windows CE version.

paulj C250WK #719

Edited by - johnsonp on 01/01/2007 20:52:41

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