Canadian Charts

[teneicm]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

optimtor...

Sad to say, there are no Canadian Raster charts which will work with opencpn.

Reason: Canadian BSB charts are encrypted with the BSB4 protection scheme. The algorithms needed to decode the encryption are proprietary and closed source, and thus not available to an open source project such as opencpn. This chart encryption is the result of an Intellectual Property policy maintained by the CHS for some years now.

The chynasea website says it has CHS charts in ENC S57 format:

Canadian Pacific Coast CHS Vector charts

S57 vector charts from Canadian Hydrographic Service include 12 months of free updates upon request. Full coverage of BC Coast is not complete at this time (February 2008), but is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2008. http://www.chynasea.com/2008%20Pacif...oast%20CHS.PDF

Those should work with OpenCPN, right?

[dacust]

Originally Posted by teneicm

The chynasea website says it has CHS charts in ENC S57 format:

Canadian Pacific Coast CHS Vector charts

S57 vector charts from Canadian Hydrographic Service include 12 months of free updates upon request. Full coverage of BC Coast is not complete at this time (February 2008), but is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2008. http://www.chynasea.com/2008%20Pacif...oast%20CHS.PDF

Those should work with OpenCPN, right?

YIKES! $599.00 for 51 charts in one group ($11.75 per chart), $599.00 for 43 charts in the other group ($13.93 oer chart)? If they are THAT proud of their charts, then they can keep them.

-dan

[DeepFrz]

Doesn't look like Chynasea has updated the availability of CHS vector charts since 2008 and there is a big chunk of the coast missing.

[GDD]

Hi all,

Here are some things I know about options available for digital charts of Western Canada.


First: The digital charts for sale are encrpyted and seriously expensive. Yes, I"ve written my MP about it. I may even do a freedom of information request for a chart just to see how the government reacts. They give away land topo maps....

Second: The first generation BSB charts (unencrpyted) are floating around on the internet. They were 'shared' A LOT when they first were releeased in the late 90's. There were stories in the news of fisherman selling copies of the cds.

Third: The CM93 coverage is equal to the CHS coverage, except for one particular spot discussed here.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ues-29495.html

The 2006 edition of CM93 seems error free.

[DeepFrz]

They give away land topo maps....

Oh. When did they start doing that?

Second: The first generation BSB charts (unencrpyted) are floating around on the internet. They were 'shared' A LOT when they first were releeased in the late 90's. There were stories in the news of fisherman selling copies of the cds.

If I remember correctly the news stories were about government prosecutions of people who were using bootleg charts.

[Seahunter]

These are my stomping grounds. You need BSB Electronic Charts LLC Chart #353801 Desolation Sound. These charts work on OpenCPN. Tested them myself. These are not the encrypted ones, and a a bit older but they still work fine.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Golden Mean

It would be nice to be able get familiar with only one product for both the US and Canadian cruising.

Fugawi will work with both Canadian BSB and the us charts, vector or raster.

$280 US, and they will sell you the Canadian charts as well.

[GDD]

[QUOTE=DeepFrz;475171]Oh. When did they start doing that?

I don't know exactly when the program started, but here is the website.

GeoGratis - Home


I have not personally downloaded any and compared to the paper ones.

Cheers,

[DeepFrz]

GDD, those are not land topo maps. The last time I bought topo maps they were about the same price as marine charts.

Fugawi wants $599.94 per for each of the West Coast areas, Vancouver Island East or Vancouver Island West.

There still seems to be a gap in the digital charts for much of the inside passage north of the north end of Vancouver Island.

[GDD]

Hi DeepFrz,

The prices and availbillity you are quoting I think are for vector (ENC) charts. Raster charts are availble for the whole BC coast; they now come in the encrpyted BSB4 format but they use to come in the original unencrpyted BSB format. I have no idea why the ENC coverage is so much smaller, but BC is not (literally) uncharted terrirotry.

Look here at the interactive maps for the ENC and BSB formats.


Electronic Navigational Chart Index

The vector chart collections still have gaps in them. The BSB format gives far more coverage of the north coast. Its these orginal BSB charts that are 'out there' on the internet, and work with opencpn.

Somehow the CM93 coverage matchs the BSB coverage and exceeds the CHS ENC coverage. I have now idea how this came to be.

Also, it looks like I had the link wrong for topo maps, but various friends who are hikers have told me they can be downloaded for free now, i jsut haven't found where. I"m goning to keep looking and i'll post back here if I find anything.

[GDD]

Regarding Topo maps...

Here is a legend.

ftp://ftp.nrcan.gc.ca/ess/topo/NTSIn...0dpi_index.pdf

And here are the maps of the Vancouver area.

Index of /pub/cantopo/50k_pdf/092/g


I tried to get the gulf islands but not all the maps were available for 092-F.

The Natural Resources Canada site is not user-friendly at all, maybe one day they make these easier to find.

[sinbad7]

Optimtor...

Please check your personal mailbox for info that may be of assistance to you.

This is the chart you need,and as you see,it IS compatible with OpenCPN.

[boatrips]

I visited Desolation Sound this year in March and April (2010) to test out using Opencpn-136 and cm93 charts.

I installed the free opencpn software from Cruisers Forum onto my laptop computer and then bought Microsoft's "streets and maps" software that comes with a GPS that connects to the computer. I didn't install the streets and maps software but used that GPS with the opencpn software instead. It works great. I downloaded the cm93 charts from the internet.

We went from Anacortes Washington to Desolation Sound with stops in the Gulf Islands, then accross the Strait of Georgia through Welcome Pass into Pender Harbour then up Malaspina Strait with a stop in Powell River then on to Desolation Sound.

The cm93 charts were GPS spot on everywhere I went with the exception of the entrance to Prideau Haven that was a little off. I always say that I can get to the outer marker, I'll figure a way to get in the place. After we were inside Prideau haven the CM93 charts were GPS spot on again.

Now we must remember that the goofy US Governments GPS signal is dithered every so often and this might be why it was not giving us the proper location when were at Prideau Haven's outer marker.

Example, when we continued on through Desolation Sound we noticed when we entered another inlet the GPS was spot on but when we went to turn around and leave just a few minutes later it showed we were 50 meters inland, but a few minutes later the GPS signal was again spot on according to the cm93 charts.

CM93 charts are world wide for big ship navigation and if you want to check them out you'll see that a little spot in the South Pacific turns out to be Tahiti with the whole reef with inlets and buoys.

The free opencpn software is amazing and I really want to thank those who volunteered to build it, so try it, you'll like it.

Fair winds, and following seas,

Jim