"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
I have some wonderful paper marine charts and could make a perfect
raster scan (TIFF) out of them. Then would need a calibrating utility
(a là OziExplorer) that can output to BSB format, once datum, mag.
dev, etc is entered.

Once you have solved the BSB calibration problem, how are you intending to
solve the many problems of scanning to a usable file type which does not
resemble a pig's ear? Of all the many hundreds of electronic charts I
possess, only about two are scanned from paper charts, partly because I
found that buying a scanner large enough to scan a complete chart at one
pass would cost me about the same as a new Ferrari!


Hehehe.. partially true he you can obtain rasters from scanning centers
for a few bucks without buying the machine....

Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving the
time
and cost of scanning.


Yeah, but most of them are old!

Download and install the trial version of Rosepoint Software's Coastal
Explorer and it will go on line and download all those chart for you:

http://rosepointnav.com/CoastalExplorer/default.htm

Coastal Explorer is packaged with some additional bells and whistles and
sold as Maptech's Chart navigator Pro:


Wow........ I had a look at the user interface and...... yes! It is the same
product!!! Betwwen the two, what is the most complete product??

Download and install the trial version of Rosepoint Software's Coastal
Explorer and it will go on line and download all those chart for you:

http://rosepointnav.com/CoastalExplorer/default.htm

Coastal Explorer is packaged with some additional bells and whistles and
sold as Maptech's Chart navigator Pro:


Yes Jack you're right, RosePoint did the dirty work and Maptech licenses the
product.

At this point, all my respect and Kudos go to to Rose Point!!! Absolutelly!
And I've digged around and read about enthusiastic reviews of Coastal
Explorer.... FANTASTIC!!!!

I'm thinking if Coastal Explorer has more map flavour options.... it could
be just beacuse they aren't......... Maptech!!!

Atlas wrote:
snip
Wow........ I had a look at the user interface and...... yes! It is the same
product!!! Betwwen the two, what is the most complete product??

I've not seen the MapTech version so I can't really compare them.
Reading about it, I noticed that CNP comes with the satellite imagery
and some other things that are not in the CE package.

I loaded CE trial just out of curiosity, I've not purchased it or
navigated with it. The GPS input times out after 15 minutes but
otherwise it can be used indefinitely for route planning and route and
waypoint reviews. I use it to work on the routes I keep on my Garmin
76Cx handheld. It is much more pleasant to use than is the Garmin
MapSource program.

Coastal Explorer is not perfect, in using it I found some minor
annoyances and some features that were maybe not fully developed yet.
But it does have a wonderful user's interface and is quite easy to use.

Too bad about your being in the Med, if you move to America you can get
free charting. :)

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving the
time
and cost of scanning.

Right, so you're saying just steal them instead of paying.

Atlas wrote:

snip
Yes Jack you're right, RosePoint did the dirty work and Maptech licenses the
product.

At this point, all my respect and Kudos go to to Rose Point!!! Absolutelly!
And I've digged around and read about enthusiastic reviews of Coastal
Explorer.... FANTASTIC!!!!

I'm thinking if Coastal Explorer has more map flavour options.... it could
be just beacuse they aren't......... Maptech!!!

Maptech has some sort of business relationship with the U.S. national
hydrographic agency, NOAA I think. For years, Maptech was about the
only source for electronic charting data that was based on images of the
NOAA paper charts. And the format on those was primarily the BSB that
Maptech developed. And they sold the charts too of course.

A few years ago, the NOAA made the electronic charts available to the
public as free downloads. The downloaded charts are exactly the same
Maptech's, I think Maptech has continued to do the electronic chart
making work for NOAA. The S-57 charts have come a long ways in recent
years and will eventually replace the raster charts I think.

The U.S. government policy on the free maps and charting (both marine
and topo) is that doing that is in the best interests of the health and
welfare of the general public. And also, the information is developed
with our tax Dollars so it just does not seem right to make us pay for
it again. But many other national agencies charge for the charting and
in some cases the prices are quite high.

If you study the help files for Ozi Explorer I think you can find a path
that will let you scan and calibrate paper charts or imported images
that are not already calibrated.

I used the Ozi Explorer trial version to prepare maps for use with Ozi
Explorer-CE (which I purchased). I was using Ozi-CE on a PDA with
marine and topo maps. Again, I had the luxury of starting with the good
(and free) NOAA and USGS downloaded maps.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Bill Kearney wrote:
Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving
the time and cost of scanning.

Right, so you're saying just steal them instead of paying.

I don't use BSB charts, but they are there if anyone wants them. Also, if my
neighbour offers me a copy of some well-known software, and I offer him a
copy of another application in return for his generosity, I don't regard
myself as having "stolen" anything.

Perhaps if you spent some time studying the P&L accounts of the leading
software companies, you would see what I mean.

BTW I don't use E-Mule, but millions do.

DP

"Dennis Pogson" wrote in
:

Bill Kearney wrote:
Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving
the time and cost of scanning.

Right, so you're saying just steal them instead of paying.

I don't use BSB charts, but they are there if anyone wants them. Also,
if my neighbour offers me a copy of some well-known software, and I
offer him a copy of another application in return for his generosity,
I don't regard myself as having "stolen" anything.

Perhaps if you spent some time studying the P&L accounts of the
leading software companies, you would see what I mean.

So just what do the P&L statements of the leading SW companies show? And
what if these aren't from the *leading* software companies? Does that
still count?

If you traded your software to another person, and both of you destroyed
copies of said software on your respective machines, I would agree with
you. Otherwise you've profited by maintaining both copies.

Simply because people walk into stores and steal things, doesn't make it
right. The stores mark everything up to cover the shrinkage. All of us
who don't steal the products end up paying for it. There's no difference
other than the one is a store has a physical essence and the other is just
bits streaming over the Internet or on a disk.

-- Geoff (ex-software developer)

"Dennis Pogson" wrote in
:

Bill Kearney wrote:
Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving
the time and cost of scanning.

Right, so you're saying just steal them instead of paying.

I don't use BSB charts, but they are there if anyone wants them. Also,
if my neighbour offers me a copy of some well-known software, and I
offer him a copy of another application in return for his generosity,
I don't regard myself as having "stolen" anything.

Perhaps if you spent some time studying the P&L accounts of the
leading software companies, you would see what I mean.

BTW I don't use E-Mule, but millions do.

DP

So just what do the P&L statements of the leading SW companies show? And
what if these aren't from the *leading* software companies? Does that
still count?

If you traded your software to another person, and both of you destroyed
copies of said software on your respective machines, I would agree with
you. Otherwise you've profited by maintaining both copies.

Simply because people walk into stores and steal things, doesn't make
it right. The stores mark everything up to cover the shrinkage. All of
us who don't steal the products end up paying for it. There's no
difference other than the one in a store has a physical essence and the
other is just bits streaming over the Internet or on a disk.

-- Geoff (ex-software developer)

Geoff,
Thank you.
I guess some people don't think stealing is a problem unless something
is stolen from them.
(another software developer that went broke by making a good product)
Reed

Geoff Schultz wrote:
"Dennis Pogson" wrote in
:

Bill Kearney wrote:
Most of these BSB charts can be obtained in digital form anyway, by
resorting to a file-sharing program such as Emule, therefore saving
the time and cost of scanning.
Right, so you're saying just steal them instead of paying.
I don't use BSB charts, but they are there if anyone wants them. Also,
if my neighbour offers me a copy of some well-known software, and I
offer him a copy of another application in return for his generosity,
I don't regard myself as having "stolen" anything.

Perhaps if you spent some time studying the P&L accounts of the
leading software companies, you would see what I mean.

So just what do the P&L statements of the leading SW companies show? And
what if these aren't from the *leading* software companies? Does that
still count?

If you traded your software to another person, and both of you destroyed
copies of said software on your respective machines, I would agree with
you. Otherwise you've profited by maintaining both copies.

Simply because people walk into stores and steal things, doesn't make it
right. The stores mark everything up to cover the shrinkage. All of us
who don't steal the products end up paying for it. There's no difference
other than the one is a store has a physical essence and the other is just
bits streaming over the Internet or on a disk.

-- Geoff (ex-software developer)