Route Planning with GRIB - Work in Progress

[globalkeith]

Originally Posted by nohal

Keith...
Whatever I could merge is merged in the main tree, the weather routing part was too intrusive to merge and it has to be reimplemented as a plugin. If you want Pjotr's code, let me know (it's incompatible with the main source tree though)

Pavel

Bit busy with the OSM plugin at the moment, as you know, but certainly a good project for next year. If you have a mo, can you check out the osm_pi thread, got a bit of a C++ problem I'm sure you could help me with.

[PjotrC]

The bad news is that for the forseeable future the development window seems closed for me... (unless SW Monsoon does not stop this year, or something like that...).

The good news is that I used 2.5.1318 a lot underway and I came to like it. I got so much used to browsing the GRIBs via the synchronized route perspective, that I never use the GRIB display control anymore, except for pointing to the file.

So it is a bit of chicken-and-egg dilemma. The 2.5.1318 is intrusive to OCPN core, no doubt. But making a detached route-planning plugin will have its caveats, too. For one, it is beyond my ability today. Secondly, a completely new functionality module will create many (too many?) new temptations for the author. An example is QtVlm 3.2-3, which I cannot stop admiring for its superb functionality in interactive planning and feedback (once one gets to actually use it - I can _rarely_ repeat that success in daily needs). But once I have it working, it is brillant!

I did not use the GRIB currents from BSH enough to see how to use them best. Technically, this works in 2.5.1318, and for the sake of completeness it should probably be used, even given that some serious people say that interpolating tidal currents is too tricky to be done lightly.

So, on the constructive note, I hope that someone will develop a simple route properties plugin, more or less exactly as it is now: a simple table of waypoints, open for many properties for each one, coming from the static route definition, or computed from other available sources, most notably - GRIBs and tidal data. I definitely believe this is how I like to see it.

Cheers,

P.

[cagney]

There is an alternative approach to routing.
Use QtVlm!
See this tread http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...are-74738.html
Instructions in English here QtVlm/en - VlmWiki

Create and optimize a route in QtVlm. Export it to OpenCPN.
1 in QtVlm Routes->Export route-> "the route"
2 give the route a name ending in .gpx
3 only export the POI:s
4 Import as usual to OpenCPN

QtVlm don't seem to recognize .gpx for import, so creating a route in O and optimizing it in QtVlm does not work - yet!

Thomas

[CarCode]

I hope someone can put qtVlm and OCPN together. Sadly they use different frameworks, OCPN uses wxWidgets and qtVlm uses Qt.

qtVlm has a far better Grib functionallity than OCPN and it provides what a sailor needs: A real route planning using Grib and Polars. Furthermore it has a far better user interface than OCPN. It lacks of seamaps however.

Gerhard

[sinbad7]

Thomas..

Re your #153. GpsBabel does the conversion .gpx .xml and v.v.
I imported an old .gpx route I converted to .xml with GpsBabel and it works a treat.

However, I am having great difficulty creating a route with qtVlm which I find is not intuitive in the way I am used to? I can creata waypoints but how do you turn it into a route connecting the wpt´s?

Tore

[maitai]

There are several ways to create a route in qtVlm. You can create a routing and then convert it to a route, that's usually what you do on open-sea/rather long distance. Then you can edit the route, modify/optimize/simplify/etc.
If you are to create the route manually, then you have to create the route first . Then you have to add POIs (i.e. WPs) to it. To do so you have to right-click on an existing POI and add it to the route. The order is alphabetical, so it all depends on the POI name. POI_1 will be reached before POI_2 but after POI_03... Such a manually created (or imported) route can also be optimized/modified/etc. You can always move a POI (=Point Of Interest) with shift-right-click&drag. There are many other possibilities...

[sinbad7]

Maitai..

OK,finally I think I managed... Looks great!!!

How do I get the origianl date/time to display.
How do you export in Track modus with times?

Thanks

Tore

[sinbad7]

Piotr...

The latest version of OpenCPN is not able to activate POI´s containing links to local files. For example C:\INSTALLED PROGRAMS\TRIP PLANNING\qtVlm.exe does not work.

Suggestions?

Tore

[maitai]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

Maitai..

OK,finally I think I managed... Looks great!!!

How do I get the origianl date/time to display.
How do you export in Track modus with times?

Thanks

Tore

When exporting a route in gpx format qtVlm sets the <time></time> tag as it should, so this information is in the gpx file. I don't know if ocpn can display it though.

[cagney]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

Piotr...

The latest version of OpenCPN is not able to activate POI´s containing links to local files. For example C:\INSTALLED PROGRAMS\TRIP PLANNING\qtVlm.exe does not work.

Suggestions?

Tore

There are no problems with links to local or external data files in 3.0.2.
But...
Links to executive files have never been supported.
Try to paste your link into a browser........
Thomas

[sinbad7]

Maitai..

Unless I have misunderstood,the times entered in the route is really meaningless as you have no idea about arrival times at the various GRIB situations.

Would it not be possible to enter date/time at the start of the trip and let the GRIB and Polar settings calculate ETA at each of the waypoints? I would also here like to have a simulation option to create an animation of the boat´s movements.

The exported .gpx route only contains repeated departure time and not the times entered manually in the route.

Date/time is only displayed in Track modus in OpenCPN. When using previous trips for planning purposes,the Track modus is always used,showing waypoints as well as actual date/times. Would be very useful if your planning program also could display imported .xml (or better,.gpx) Tracks and also export them as Tracks.
OpenCPN is able to create Routes from Track files.

A very useful program indeed.

Tore

[maitai]

Unless I have misunderstood,the times entered in the route is really meaningless as you have no idea about arrival times at the various GRIB situations.

Would it not be possible to enter date/time at the start of the trip and let the GRIB and Polar settings calculate ETA at each of the waypoints? I would also here like to have a simulation option to create an animation of the boat´s movements

I just dont understand your question since this is just what the route is doing. You can "animate" the route by moving the grib's date.

I suspect you are not doing it the correct way, so can you describe in detail how you set-up your route?

[sinbad7]

maitai..

I think you misunderstood. I mean animating/moving your boat along the route at speeds regulated by the Grib and Polar setting and calculating new ETA´s for each waypoint.

I know the route will change it´s shape when the Grib is altered but that was not my question.

Say you wish to know the arrival times at various points en route at a given GRIB or/and Polar setting. How would you do that?

Tore

[maitai]

Ok. Once more then:

-Close qtVlm
-Delete POI.dat so you start from zero
-Open qtVlm
-Move your boat where you want the route to start (you can start a route from a POI but let's keep it simple)
-Open a grib file covering your position, or download it from qtVlm (vlm gribs)
-Create a new route, leave all options as they are
-Insert a new POI somewhere (not 3000 milles away of course, otherwise the grib will not be long enough to reach it). To do that one good way is to right-click somewhere on the map, select "Place a new mark". Change the name of the POI to POI_001 for instance. Assign it to the route before leaving the POI dialog. Click OK to validate you new POI.
-Repeat the last step as many time as you want, just changing the name of the POI so qtVlm will know in which order they are to be reached
-Your route is done and should display ETAs according to the grib and polar. You can move one POI (shicht-click/drag) and see the ETAs changing. You can move the grib's date and see where you will be at a given date, etc.

OR

You can just insert your destination point (no need to create a route), and ask for a routing from your boat to this point (routing->create a routing). When the routing is finished edit it, and convert it in a route.

[sinbad7]

maitai..

Thanks for your in-depth explanation. You should create a more detailed help file.
The program is not so intuitive,perhaps the French intuition is different?

I have set up a special POI for MY area including helpful tools,mostly located on my PC,and I have made a special link to qtVlm. In this way I can have a split screen where I can have a simultaneous view of both OpenCPN as well as qVlm.

I will experiment a little more with qtVlm to learn the finer point of it.

Thanks again

Tore