Managing and off-loading waypoints, routes and tracks

[Antipole]

It is so easy in OpenCPN to create waypoints and tracks that I have accumulated hundreds - possible places of refuge, alternative routes depending on conditions etc. etc. I had accumulated 2450 waypoints and 311 routes. This season we will be off to Norway - a new cruising ground for me, and so I needed to tidy up and off-load objects in areas we will not be visiting for some while.

I had tried adding prefixes to objects to denote their area(e,g, UK-S: for the UK south coast) but it has not been practicable to keep this rigorously.

I have now created a script for the JavaScript plugin that allows the selection and management of objects by area. You create one or more boundaries using pseudo-routes in OpenCPN. A boundary must include the text 'boundary' in its name (case insensitive) and share its first and last points. If you have several boundaries, they may share route-point borders.

The script searches for boundaries and displays a dialogue, such as this example:
(Whoops - cannot get image in here before my edit window expires. See here.)


(1) You select which boundary you wish to use and whether you want to select objects inside or outside it.

(2) For tracks and routes, you have the option of selecting ones that cross the boundary having points both inside and out.

(3) You select which objects you wish to select

(4) You specify what you want done with objects selected.

List lists their names in the script output pane.

Make visible makes the objects visible and makes all objects not selected invisible.

Prefix name adds a prefix (e.g. UK-S: to the selected objects name and removes any matching prefix from unselected objects.

Delete deletes the selected objects.

Off-loading objects
This utility can be used to off-load objects for particular areas such as a cruising ground you are not visiting at present. The objects are exported into a .gpx file and can then be deleted from OpenCPN. If you return to the area, the objects can be imported back into OpenCPN.

You can then run the script again with the same boundary and the Delete action selected. The script deletes routes before waypoints and checks that the waypoints to be deleted are not still used by any remaining routes. If they are still in use, they are not deleted and the routes are listed.

Fuller details and the script are available in the Shared Scripts library.

[SoggyPaws]

This is an interesting approach and I might play with it a little.
What we do is put our past waypoints and other "notes" marks in a layer by country. Then you can load, unload, and hide the set of marks easily, and also leave the waypoint symbol but hide the name. I have about 20 layers, some that have extensive track files in them and it doesn't seem to bog OpenCPN at all. It's easy to aggregate the waypoints you want to export to a layer...manually position your boat in the middle of the area, and then sort the marks list by distance from boat. Normally this will get you 95% there.

But when marks are in a layer, you CANNOT edit the mark. (I often wish for a Edit button on a layer mark, and layer tracks and possibly routes (main properties only), but have never suggested it as a feature request).

[rgleason]

Tony your script is a pretty awesome route tool! Thank you.