Sat2Chart

[AedanC]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Thanks for this, Aedan. But what does "fixed" mean?



My mbTiles, made from SAS Planet imagery, have the exact same borders. I typically make them using ArcGIS, Bing, Google, Cmap, & Navionics imagery. Since they exactly overlap, & since none of them have any transparent areas, only one can display at a time.



Which one will that be?



No criticism here. It's just that I've become used to how OpenCPN works, & I want to learn how it's going to change, as I try to teach others how to use OpenCPN with mbTiles.



Thanks!

The new version was released about the same time I wrote that so best try it out. It should now display all tiles visible on the screen if they are enabled on the piano bar. I have not installed it myself yet but I did try a development version a few days ago.

[Atmo]

Hi, I was trying to get Sat to Chart working on a Windows 10 Toughbook. Not the slightest cahance to get pass the opening windows.
Plugin installed on open CPN, all the extra gimmiks installed.Working with windows itself is enough of a punishment, but Sat 2Chart even tops it.I could not get it to create a chart.
I was wondering if there is anybody who got that software working on windows 10.or on any other windows OS.
Any help would be much appreaiated.
The tutorials are sadly completely useless. The pictures are different to actual program and they start with a usable program which I did not accomplish to initiate.

Cheers,

Atmo

[Jon Hacking]

Atmo, Sat2Chart works fine on Win10, & the OpenCPN plugin isn't necessary for most work. The SW ONLY works on Windows, as all 4 pieces of SW are Windows specific.

But saying only that it doesn't work doesn't really help, does it? There are lots of folks on here who've all gotten it running just fine. And we're happy to help you get yours working. But we need LOTS more information, & it has to be useful information, not just complaining:

• WHERE did you get the SW that you installed?
• HOW exactly did you install it?
• WHAT you tried to do to run the SW?
• What were you expecting?
• What exactly happened?

Screen-shots & the log-file (in the Sat2ChartX.X.X.X folder) would all help.

Paul has lots of videos to show you how it's done, if you're a video person. And I've got a long How-To page on Making mbTiles, which includes setup information, if you prefer written out instructions.

[Atmo]

Thanks, great. So there are people who got it working.
What I was trying to accomplish was installing Sat2chart on a toughbook with windows10 . To work with open CPN it was asking to install some other programs, which I did.
In order to process a chart on CPN you have to push the corroesponding icon on the CPN menue and then open the Sat2chart. then you have to set your units as you have set them in CPN. Kind of weird though, you have to do that every time again. Then you have to push a butten stating create chart. I get stuck there every time. It states it is not possibel.
We have been working via Ham Radio on two different computers doing exactly what I discribed above, my friend got one step further, the program on his side stated it created a file but did not specify where it went. I yhink that is a typical windows problem that you can't locat files, not even with the search function. But, somhow there should be a way around it if other people got it working.
Tutorials weren't helpful at all.they start after you got the software wotking.
I can try to photograph the toughbook screen, load the photos on my mac, make them smaller and attach them here. Quite an ordeal, but I do not have the necessary programs on the toughbook. The only photo I could take would be the opening window which state can't create file. That is probaply not much help.
I would not have a clue where to find log files though.With a Mac you would use terminal, but to my knowlege windows abolished that similar access decades ago.
I use the toughbook only for navigation and Ham radio applications which do not work on Apple or Linux. Winlink express, Airmail and Pactor modem/Radio connections work well without problems. Open CPN does also locate the build in GPS which the other programs can't connect to.
Is there a manual written in Latin letters availlable? that should make it a lot easier to follow steps.

Cheers,

Atmo

[Atmo]

P.s.: Downloaded all programs via the developers site, followed the promts

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Atmo

P.s.: Downloaded all programs via the developers site, followed the promts

Atmo, again, you're not giving us enough details to help you. Others seem to be able to do this easily without trouble. Sat2Chart has been out for YEARS, since 2014, & MANY people have been able to get it working without any help at all. Somehow, you seem to have problems. If you want help, you need to give us EXACT steps of what you've done, so we can tell what you did wrong & help you get it right.

• WHICH developer site did you download the programs from?
• WHICH programs did you download?
• WHICH VERSIONS of ooRexx, of GDAL, of SAS Planet, of Sat2Chart?
• HOW did you install them?
• You never mention SAS Planet. Are you even using this program?
• WHAT exact error messages do you get?
• WHEN do you get them (what exact steps have you done to get them to appear)?
• WHAT, EXACTLY, are you trying to accomplish? You don't really say...

You should not need OpenCPN until the VERY end, when you've actually made your chart. OpenCPN is only the display program for your navigation. It's usually not involved in creating the charts.

It's funny that you complain about not knowing where files are in Windows, as that's my exact complaint about a Mac. With Windows, you use Windows Explorer. It looks like a file-folder down on your task-bar at the bottom of your screen. It displays your entire disk/file structure, as well as the contents of each folder (directory), which the Mac OS goes to some lengths to hide.

Sat2Chart installs its extensive manual when it installs itself. There's a button for it on the app, but you should also be able to start it by clicking this link if you installed the latest version (V16.0.6.0) in the normal place. If that doesn't work, use Windows Explorer to go to where you installed Sat2Chart (usually C:\SAT2CHART\SAT2CHART.V16.0.6.0), go to the \English\ folder, & double click on the file index.html (Explorer might display this as simply "index", while showing by its icon that it's an html file). This should start your browser, showing the manual.

Or you could read my How-To page on Making mbTiles. It has an extensive section on what to install, & how to set them up once they're installed. I've tried to write it so even novices can use Sat2Chart. If you have problems understanding something, please let me know so I can correct my page to be more clear.

Sat2Chart's logfile, if it runs long enough to make one, is located in the C:\SAT2CHART\SAT2CHART.V16.0.6.0 folder (if you installed the latest version, using the defaults).

To take a screen-shot, use CTRL+Prt Scr. (Yes, I know, Mac users aren't used to using the CTRL-key; it's in the lower-left of your keyboard.) This should put an image of your screen in the clipboard, which you can then paste where you want (CTRL-V). Or, if you want more exact results, you can use the new Snipping Tool. Personally, I use the free program IrfanView to make my screenshots, as I can trim them exactly & see them before I post them, but you probably don't want to install another program if you can help it.

[phiggins]

Atmo,

As Jon said reproduce your problem then send me an email and attach the Sat2Chart.log and the screenshot.

My email is in the Help press that button on Sat2Chart

Paul

[Atmo]

John & Paul,

thank you very much for your input.
I did find the file explorer on W10, as you said it was hidden on the bottom and not in these side panels. Still couldn't find logfiles there...., search function did not produce results either

It is all very confusing, especially as there was such an easy plugin for Google Earth for CPN which does not work any more.
Now the programming skills requiered are on a much higher level then I am on and I have to realize that it will take a horrendrous amount of time and work to get there.
I will start with finding out how to remove all these programs which came with the packet SAS Planet/Sat2chart from my Toughhbook thouroughly and then start fresh.
( Finding out where the logfiles are and how to copy them, where does Windows install the program, how to create a desktop icon, how to create/find directories, finding pathes and write them down/copy etc.pp.)
In order to keep going in regards of getting the setup working at least on one computer I will ask Thomas to get onto the thread and pick up the conversation with you.
He'll be able to follow your advice much more easily then me.
Thanks again for your time and effort.

Cheers,
Atmo

[phiggins]

Sat2Chart.V16.0.7.0 is now available.
Removed support for overlaying opencpn onto Google Earth.
See the comment below for an explanation.
The new version can be downloaded here:
https://www.gdayii.ca/Downloads/Sat2Chart_Install.exe

Recently a user who had not created charts for many years asked if I still supported overlaying OpenCPN onto Google Earth. I hadn't tried that feature for years so I gave it a try. It failed because OpenCPN no longer will load the plugin supplied by Sat2Chart to allow it to access OPenCPN. I guess they changed the interface for their plugins.
I no longer have the will to pursue fixing a feature that most users no longer use. I told the user to use SasPlanet.
This version just prevents you from selecting opencpn when the source is Google Earth. In a future release I will removed moving the plugin the the OpenCPN plugins.
Also will update the tutorial: 11. Overlaying onto Google Earth Pro.
I want to spend my remaining time learning new things like Neural Networks the bases for Artificial Intelligence

[phiggins]

Sat2Chart.V16.0.9.0 is now available. Fixes a problem where SasPlanet is getting many download errors.

Download it here: https://www.gdayii.ca/Downloads/Sat2Chart_Install.exe

[Wilyum]

newb questions here, why use Sat2Chart to download MBtiles from SASPlanet to OpenCPN? Why not just create them, then download your MBtiles directly from SASPlanet to OpenCPN?

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Wilyum

newb questions here, why use Sat2Chart to download MBtiles from SASPlanet to OpenCPN? Why not just create them, then download your MBtiles directly from SASPlanet to OpenCPN?

"The only silly question is the one not asked."

Yes, that's certainly possible, & in some cases, even preferable.

Sat2Chart is really an automation engine. By creating a route that outlines the areas you're interested in, you can then download whatever zooms you want (I use Z10-Z18), for whatever charts you want (I use ArcGIS, Bing, GE, CMap, & Navionics), & Sat2Chart will drive SAS to do all that automagically. Putting multiple zooms into the same mbTile makes OpenCPN run faster, as it can simply extract the correct zoom level from the mbTile & slam it out to the display hardware, without having to decide which bits to show & which to hide.

Even better, you can feed Sat2Chart multiple routes at the same time, & it will work its way through each of them.

So all you really have to do is create your routes, export them as GPX files, feed them to Sat2Chart, & go away while it does all the heavy lifting, driving SAS to download all the imagery for all the different zooms, & then creating the mbTiles.

But if you don't want all that, if you only want a single anchorage for instance, then doing it manually might be easier.

But another issue: I've been using this system since 2014. Every once in a while, I remake my mbTiles (& refill my SAS cache with fresh content) by running all of my (saved) routes through Sat2Chart again. So for me, it's handy to save ALL of my routes, & I can only do that if I've created them first.

[Wilyum]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

"The only silly question is the one not asked."

Yes, that's certainly possible, & in some cases, even preferable.

Sat2Chart is really an automation engine. By creating a route that outlines the areas you're interested in, you can then download whatever zooms you want (I use Z10-Z18), for whatever charts you want (I use ArcGIS, Bing, GE, CMap, & Navionics), & Sat2Chart will drive SAS to do all that automagically. Putting multiple zooms into the same mbTile makes OpenCPN run faster, as it can simply extract the correct zoom level from the mbTile & slam it out to the display hardware, without having to decide which bits to show & which to hide.

Even better, you can feed Sat2Chart multiple routes at the same time, & it will work its way through each of them.

So all you really have to do is create your routes, export them as GPX files, feed them to Sat2Chart, & go away while it does all the heavy lifting, driving SAS to download all the imagery for all the different zooms, & then creating the mbTiles.

But if you don't want all that, if you only want a single anchorage for instance, then doing it manually might be easier.

But another issue: I've been using this system since 2014. Every once in a while, I remake my mbTiles (& refill my SAS cache with fresh content) by running all of my (saved) routes through Sat2Chart again. So for me, it's handy to save ALL of my routes, & I can only do that if I've created them first.

excellent reply thank you.

[Be Free]

Paul,
I know you wrote Sat2Chart in Rexx but your attitude reminds me more of a Perl programmer: "There's more than one way to do it."

Thanks for a great tool!

[phiggins]

Be Free, not sure if that is a compliment or not. A lot of Sat2Chart is wrote in C++ also.