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hphcrew

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Interesting that this statement on your website...

 

"I understand that SeaClear is free. Why do you sell it? Yes SeaClear is free. No charges have been included for SeaClear. The dollar value is in the 324 calibrated NZ charts and hardware (if any). Please read the SeaClear License. The link is on the left hand side."

 

...conflicts with the copyright statement on the LINZ website which says the charts can be redistributed for free. I suspect that will not be too pleased with the idea of charging for the charts.

 

LINZ owns the Crown copyright in the material available for viewing or downloading from this website as provided in the Copyright Act 1994.

 

The material may be used, copied and re-distributed free of charge in any format or media. Where the material is redistributed to others the following acknowledgement note should be shown: "Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved."

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Takes me about an half hour to download a chart and get it operating in seaclear. Took me ages to figure out how to do this ( not unusual) so to get these all calibrated and tech help for the above price is really a good deal.

The only problem I have with it is how one ( who is not familiar with mapcal) can be sure the calibrations are correct. Calibrations can be checked in mapcal, which comes with seaclear2 but is a fairly nerdy procedure. A :thumbup: big thanks to the NZ Gov for letting these out of the box for free.

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For those of you wanting the calibrated charts someone has already done the leg work and posted them here completely gratis, for pretty much every chart in the NZ catalogue. He is continually updating them as LINZ updates the charts. Not sure if I'm meant to mention other forums on here but this guy has a topic on CF that he posts to when the updates are made so if you supscribe to the topic you can easily keep up to date.

http://mce66.altervista.org/software.html

 

The charts work with both OpenCPN or SeaClear (both freeware). If you're going to use these for any serious navigation you probably need to verify the calibrations yourself to be sure but these charts are a damn good start.

 

My advice would be steer well clear of anyone trying to sell them. :thumbdown: And knowing the charts are out there for free really has to make you wonder who actually did all the calibrations of the ones for sale. :problem:

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Now I just wish they'll release the binary maps in a format thats supported by more that 1/2 a dozen major GPS Suppliers.

I agree but can also see why they don't. It's a SOLAS thing.

 

My understanding is that LINZ's vector charts can officially be used for navigation (if backed up with paper charts) so they need to be tamper proof so their authenticity can be verifiied. As a ficticious scenario picture the captain of the Rena doing a quick edit after their little misshap. "..but officer my chart doesn't show any reef". Or maybe some dodgy supplier incorrectly trying to update with notices to mariners and getting it wrong. OK so that's probably a little contrived but you get the idea. As a result only authorised software from trusted suppliers can run it. I would imagine an almost impossible task getting open source software like SeaClear & OpenCPN authorised.

 

From LINZ's website

NZMariner data is encrypted by LINZ to protect the integrity of the data from unofficial modifications. Permits are provided within the files, which the ECS/ECDIS use to decrypt the data and display the chart information.

 

Frustrating to know that LINZ gives the data away free but we are still tied into high priced commercial products to view it. Can't see that changing any time soon tho.

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I'd probably go with OpenCPN. I prefer the interface but have really only played with it. No serious navigation yet. It seems to have more features although I haven't spent much time with SeaClear for a decent comparison. OpenCPN is continually being updated and added to, where as I think SeaClear is pretty static. Not sure if that means stable or just the developer has lost interest.

 

Yes there are other freely available charts for other areas but I don't think the coverage is by any means comprehensive. I haven't checked any of them out myself. From the discussions I've read many of the other charts available are vector based. Pretty sure all (or at least most) charts available for one will work with the other.

 

There's plenty of discussion out there and a quick Google should point you in the right direction. Maybe too much to wade through at times and can be hard to find what you want to know if you're just wanting to get up and running. I'd suggest just download both and have a play. Then wade into the forums to find what you want to know from there.

 

http://opencpn.org

http://www.sping.com/seaclear/

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...or just download the charts already calibrated from this link

http://depositfiles.com/files/k453cpluo

which can also be found near the bottom of the page http://mce66.altervista.org/software.html just above the screen shot images.

 

It is largeish (154 MB) and the download isn't particularly fast but set it going overnight and voila, you have the full portfolio of calibrated NZ charts.

 

Any updates are usually posted incrementally so you don't need to download the full portfolio again to stay current.

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Great!

Thanks for this. :thumbup:

.... if you than connect your LapTop etc. to a GPS USB receiver with active antenna you can use this as an onboard Chartplotter.

Furthermore, at home, you can plan your trip in details. Analyze your track; print out your Log etc etc.

 

Would you have a link to Oz charts as well?

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Oh yeh you can check the calibration by getting the nautical almanac and checking the latitude and longitude of the lights. In seaclear, put your curser on a light and it tells you the lat and long. A big printer would be nice.

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