RTZassist - OpenCPN is not an ECDIS

[Rasbats]

Ok, but there are some people interested in using OpenCPN to create a route that can be transferred to an ECDIS.

There is now an approved standard for route exchange between different manufacturers of ECDIS - the RTZ file format. The schema is here:

Route Exchange (RTZ)

As a baby step I have created a tool that translates OpenCPN GPX files to/from RTZ. This includes validation with RTZ 1.1 schema and also the provisional RTZ 1.1 schema. The app uses the Xerces parser and TinyXML2.

Norway has embraced the concept of recommended routes and a number are available. These can be translated and displayed in OpenCPN.

https://routeinfo.no/faq

The alpha version of what I am calling 'RTZassist' is here:

https://github.com/Rasbats/opencpn.r...eases/tag/v0.1

At the moment there is only a zip file in the release with a Windows '.exe', that can be used from the folder. An installer will follow.

If anyone with access to an ECDIS which has been updated to handle RTZ files could give the translation products a test that would be very much appreciated.

Mike

[cagney]

Mike

Nice project.
Stuck to local cruising in Sweden this summer....
The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) publishes the official pilot routes to all harbors in .rtz, so I made a try to compile on Ubuntu 20.04..

In file included from /home/thomas/Sailing/OpenCPN/Plugins/opencpn.rtz.assist-0.1/src/RTZassistPanelMain.cpp:2:
/home/thomas/Sailing/OpenCPN/Plugins/opencpn.rtz.assist-0.1/src/load-grammar-sax.h:8:10: fatal error: xercesc/dom/DOM.hpp: No such file or directory
8 | #include <xercesc/dom/DOM.hpp>
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.

Thomas

[Rasbats]

Thomas...

Thanks. Do you have 'xerces 3.2.2' on your box? I will have a look at a Linux compilation shortly.

Mike

[cagney]

Mike
I was missing the dev package.
Still some minor errors in compilation.
I'll wait until you have had a chance to look at Linux.
Thomas

[Rasbats]

Thomas...

Updated the code to compile on both Linux and Windows:

https://github.com/Rasbats/opencpn.r...eases/tag/v0.2

See GitHub for more information. An executable file is available, which could be run from 'Terminal' on my machine. I am off to look at the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) files.

Mike

[Hakan]

Mike..
here's one example:
https://www.sjofartsverket.se/en/Mar...via-Marstrand/

[P_Dub]

Maybe it is not an ECDIS, but I can assure you that it seem better than many.
I have seen too many turning to DR and others with erronous positioning as much as 300 meters with their charts system. All this over a 20 years period.
Bye

[Hakan]

Mike..
First test on Win10. Work fine with the rtz route from SE-SMA Marstrand to Uddevalla.
Håkan

[cagney]

Mike

Compiled fine on Ubuntu 20.04 (a bunch of warnings but no show-stopper).
I agree with Håkan.
I found out that I was wrong about SMA. All routes are not available in rtz, yet. SMA:s standard format, at the moment, is TRANSAS file-format .rt3, and excel.

Thank you very much!
Thomas

[Rasbats]

Thomas, Håkan... Thanks for testing.

Mike

[Rasbats]

Not all the rtz are validating against version 1.0. I think a non-standard schema is being used to validate files. It would be interesting to find out whether the CIRM schema is actually being used, or some proprietary version that is close to it.

Mike

[Hakan]

Mike..
I tested to use both version 1.0 and 1.1 for the rtz source linked above. I see no difference.
Håkan

[Rasbats]

Håkan...

Going from RTZ to GPX the app just pulls off what it needs to make the GPX. A lot of data is thrown away.

But if you go from a GPX to an RTZ you need to use a schema to make sure it is in the correct format. If you choose schema V1.1 it will not validate against the standard, which at the moment is V1.0. An ECDIS with updated software should only recognise valid RTZ files.

Mike

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by Rasbats

Håkan...

Going from RTZ to GPX the app just pulls off what it needs to make the GPX. A lot of data is thrown away.
Mike

1)

"A lot of data" Do you've any example of these lost data? What's in a rtz route shown on a nav program fulfilling ECDIS rules not shown in our gpx format?

2)

If O should travel against ECDIS rules in this matter (routes) what needs to be done?

[Rasbats]

Where to start!!!

Minimal sample:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Waypoints exist in with positive and negative Lat and Lon (i.e. in all four quadrants) and route crosses the "date line" (180 degree Lon) -->
<route xmlns="http://www.cirm.org/RTZ/1/0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="1.0">
    <routeInfo routeName="RTZ1.0MandatoryElementsAndAttributes" />
    <waypoints>
        <!--  Waypoint IDs are deliberately not in rising numeric order to avoid giving impression that id should equal the index -->
        <waypoint id="11"> <position lat="34.25855000"  lon="137.17881667"/>  </waypoint>
        <waypoint id="2"> <position lat="22.2433308"   lon="-158.68618600"/> </waypoint>
        <waypoint id="43"> <position lat="-45.10568333" lon="150.38398333"/>  </waypoint>
        <waypoint id="4"> <position lat="-36.93133333" lon="20.64783333"/>   </waypoint>
        <waypoint id="0"> <position lat="-6.95285000"  lon="-32.85430000"/>  </waypoint>
        <waypoint id="5"> <position lat="44.55386667"  lon="-56.39596667"/>  </waypoint>
      </waypoints>
</route>

'id' is not the same as 'name' in RTZ. 'id' has type="xsd:nonNegativeInteger", 'name' has type="xsd:string".

In the extra files alongside 'RTZassist' you will find 'RTZ1.0MandatoryElementsAndAttributes.rtz' which gives the minimum data. You can create an OpenCPN GPX from this.

To create valid RTZ from a GPX I had to insert dummy id numbers. Also the route name must be the same as the file name, without the '.rtz' extension.

Perhaps OpenCPN waypoint properties should include id and enforce the route naming convention but this is going beyond my pay grade!

Mike