We do have online courses where participants get all the individual help that is needed and we do cover use of this program. See www.starpath.com/catalog/courses/courses_index.htm. I think we might also start to offer short online live seminars on various aspects of electronic charting including use of OpenCPN.

I have to agree that it takes some practice to set this up for use single handing, but with a crew to help with navigation underway or for planning before departure, this type of electronic chart system can be a real blessing.

We have several questions on charts sources. The section on Charts at opencpn.org is a good review of free charts. For all the other regions not listed, one is left with commercial products. These can be expensive. The most economical are the navionics charts using the navionics apps. These are not guaranteed to be up to date, but they are generally good. They only run in their apps, not in opencpn or any other nav program. C-map has charts as well. These too are not official charts, but generally pretty good. The best of course are the official charts from several nations. You see which ones are available at the IHO. Click the graphic viewer on this page to zoom in and set limits on what you want to see. www.iho.int/srv1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393&Itemid=424&lang=en They do not sell charts but tell you who does. This just answers your main question of what charts are available. These are ENC charts, and to make best use of those we recommend our book on ENC Charts at this link www.starpath.com/catalog/books/1996.htm. You might also post your question in the opencpn forum and maybe someone has a better answer. www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f134/

Or if possible for Yangtze, the one from China

Europe has inland ENC available at no charge. See chart resources at opencpn.org.

Hi Claudia, the best overview of available charts worldwide (including all types) that i know of is at opencpn.org, namely opencpn.org/OpenCPN/info/chartsource.html . They cover free charts, plus how to make your own, plus how to add a plugin so you can show S-63 versions of the official ENC charts. To see what official ENC are available, see the link at IHO, namely www.iho.int/srv1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393&Itemid=424&lang=en, then click center pic to see what is available. These then have to be purchased from one of several outlets. For use of vector charts we recommend our book described at www.starpath.com/ENC

You can learn what charts are available and where to buy them at the IHO link: iho.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=06d967702c7f4094bbc5b4f8e485b712

We just now added this link to our resource at www.starpath.com/getcharts and also added international printed chart catalog links.