Absolutely have more on openCPN. Needs a series for sure!

Really good presentation, well done

David, this is awesome. I have installed OpenCPN multiple times and then reverted back to Navionics because I never had the patience/time for the steep learning curve that this software takes. But this basic tutorial clarified many issues that frustrated me in the past. I'm 1000x more likely to use OpenCPN as another source of data now. Definitely, an OpenCPN Advanced video would be highly appreciated :-).

Well done. Please make more editorials of all the sophisticated equipment available today. Beyond me (I'm 80 years old, don't even own a boat anymore) but you explain it so well. The future is fascinating (since on the water you can leave most of the politics behind and be a free person). I wish you the best!

Great Job! / Great Info! I believe more video(s) about OpenCPN would be VERY welcome by the boating community. At about 23:00 into the video, you switch from an RNC chart of where you're anchored to an ENC chart of the same location. I believe the depths displayed on both charts are either MLW (Mean Low Water) or MLLW (Mean Low Low Water). That means the actual depth you're experiencing will be subject to tides. The RNC chart appears to show you anchored in an area that is between 2 and 17 feet (MLW or MLLW). The comparable ENC chart appears to show you anchored in an area between .6 meters (1.9 feet) and 5.1 meters (16.7 feet). So the charts appear to be in sync from a displayed depth data perspective. I think you added that you're actually in about 10 feet of water. I could be wrong, but to me that seems to confirm the charts are pretty accurate, since the bottom would slope from 2 meters / 1.9 feet to about 5.1 meters / 16.7 feet in that area, depending on tide level. Sorry, I geeked out a bit. Thanks again for a Great video.

Yes, more open cpn please. Been using awhile, but only basically. A tutorial beyond this would be fantastic. Cheers

This is the best Open CPN tutorial I have seen. I have downloaded it, and tried to use it a couple times but revert back to my chartplotter and tablet. Please create more Open CPN vide.

OpenCPN is awesome. A gift for the sailor who is a sw engineer

Thank you so much for doing this series. I still can’t believe it’s free! So powerful!

I have Open CPN on a Raspberry PI. We cruse the middle Chesapeake. I just added the dAISy hat to the PI. The open CPN software even on a limited resource machine like the PI is still powerful and faster than both of my chart plotters. My next move is to convert an in dash installation. I love the Open CPN for it's power and features and the ease of use once you get used to it. I also use the Open CPN to broadcast AIS and GPS information via WIFI to my laptop for a back up and for the option of a second set of eyes on the charts.

Great video, thanks! Never heard of it, but will be downloading soon. Good tip about checking both types of charts. Bring on the advanced course!

Great video as usual. We use this program when navigating in poorly charted areas like here in Fiji. We use Google Earth images downloaded from other cruisers. A video on making your own GE images would be awesome!

Fantastic! Brief video?? I want more! Thanks David! I am off to download it now.

Thank you for your tutorial. I was searching for navigation software for PCs and found OpenCPN and downloaded it. I have used Open Office for a long time and never thought that there was a navigation software that was open source. You have given a great explanation of how to get started and I greatly appreciate it.

BRAVO BRAVO !!!! More Please ! I too have tried this but was Lost in a sea of Confusion and Aborted it. This AM I pulled my Mac up Downloaded and Followed Along !!! I ordered the GPS !!! online !!! THANKYOU for Sharing your Knowledge !!!! I agree Never have enough Tools for Navigation !!! These Series have Been Great !!! If your ever in the Florida Keys I have 200 Feet of Dock on the Gulf Side in Marathon Fl and a Car your welcome too use.....Again All the Best to you Guys !!!

Thanks for the Information. Im very new to this idea. Ive relied on devices for Navigation for a few years. Mostly Garmin stuff. They leave a lot to be desired. Recently, my Gps tracking device and marine chart plotter bit the big one and Im relegated to using my Android. Not complaining but the screen is rather small and Im 70 so, I thought it would be nice if I used my laptop. As it always seems, that is a whole new world. Never heard of an Open CPN. So, here I am. I have a hewlett Packard laptop and plan to research this as best I can to be able to use my laptop for fishing In local waters. No long trips. Depth and location are paramount. The Mrs and I plan to do a lot of fishing for our favorite tablefare so location is everything. BTW, I was stationed in Virginia for many years. Great place to fish. Thanks so much.

David - LOVED this! Thank you for making the intro painless. I HOPE you do more vids on OpenCPN! Thank you for sharing these kinds of vids! We learn so much.

That a great introduction to OPENCPN. Very clear and didactic presentation. The getting charts for some spots in the world is a tricky feat, you in the US are lucky.

David, excellent presentation! I learned so much and I like this new format. Appreciate your time sharing this with us.

Incredibly useful video - thanks

Fantastic. Thank you for posting this.

Dude.. Thanks..you made it so easy to understand. I can't understand why they need to charge so much for plotters.

One feature that I think would be amazing would be to see the minimum depth for a course you plot. It is so hard to track a course, zoomed super close in to make sure you don't miss a rock that doesn't have a rock icon (or something like that). Having a reading that says your minimum depth for the plotted course would save a ton of time and effort. To be clear, this is a double check only.

Very nicely done. I watched it when it first came out and said this is very nice. Watched it again while running Open CPN and got a lot out of it. I will do part II soon. And then I will likely do them again when our boat arrives! (Summer 2023). Thanks.

YES, we lsten patiently till you finally get to the stuff we need, Chart downloader and then selecting and loading charts to make this thing work! About halfway through the good stuff is finally shared. And thanks.

The difference between charts is that the GPS uses WGSM84 and American charts use the American chart datum and there is some difference those, that’s the reason that on professional GPS receivers you can select from a lot of chart dwtums and the paper charts it’s mentioned which datum is used.

For GPS source I have successfully used the NMEA out from Raymarine chart plotter, via serial to USB cable. I also was able to get AIS data from Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF which has a built in AIS receiver. A radar overlay would complete it nicely. New version of OpenCPN seems to be greatly improved. Nice walk through BTW.

So helpful… thank you and yes would love more on open cpn and other weather and navigation tools you used

Absolutely amazing video! Subscribed!

Holy Moly...I never knew about this. Super helpful. You rock! Yes, more.

David thank you - just subscribed- Cheers

Thank you very, very much for this introduction to open CPN, which I found very instructive and helpful

Thanks David. I’d definitely heard of Open CPN but had no idea. I now feel confident to download it and give it a go. Cheers

Fantastic intro. Thanks

Thank you. I really appreciate your time and effort on explaining this useful program. I am also interested in more videos of it. It is not extremely intuitive until you know how to use it.

Shew that was amazing.. would love the advanced course -

David, thanks so much for taking the time to "demystify" the OpenCPN. Could you consider progressing to advanced, then integrating with your other instruments over the BUS to gather data ? Then, maybe where a computer/tablet at the nav station, instead of a dedicated plotter could be used. Lastly, I've always wanted to also be able to put my nav screen(s) on the saloon TV...maybe add that to the integration portion. Any third party equipment that makes this easier would be appreciated as well. Hope you and Amy are well and thanks again.

This was very informative in so many ways.

Thank you. Great job making this easy to understand and follow. Time to download it and get underway!

I like your video , more open marine software plz

Thank you for you vid. It made it easy to load and set up the gps.

This is very helpful!! Keep them coming!

Great video - would love to learn more about CPN

Awesome video. Thanks

I used it in my nav class, but haven't really brought it aboard the boat so to speak. I would love to see a deep-dive on how to use it, connect it to the boat, etc.

Very Professional! I can't thank you enough!

Hi David, this is really useful, many thanks

More please!!!!

Thanks David, great vid. Cheers

Yes please more info on open cpn, more advanced

Nice job! Would enjoy a video turtorial on Chart quilting, Chart groups, mbtiles. and charts available for purchase.

A show & tell of using mbtiles with Sat2 Chart would be appreciated, there are some traps for young players with that process! Charts in remote regions, like Coral atolls are quite useless, even dangerously wrong, so satellite images are phenomenally useful, as you know. Thanks in advance.

good work David, it's a very useful tool

Great information! Thanks!

Thanks for sharing I enjoyed

excellent tutorial. cheers

Very helpful, thanks.

open source software 'available for windows, mac, r pi, and even Linux'. Of course Linux! There is so much great open source software yet people are paying a fortune for their proprietary counterpart on their equally expensive hardware (Apple).

Hi David - Great video - I have been playing with Open CPN to get ready for cruising. Are there any detailed maps beyond the ones listed in OCP? For example, we'll pick up our boat in Knysna South Africa. I'd like plot the route from there back to Florida but there is aren't any details for South Africa, St. Helena etc ... If there are better maps, would you show us in your next video tutorial? Cheers!!

Surely the HUUUGE advantage of raster charts that should have been referred to in this video, instead of them being disparaged as dumb charts, is that you don’t have to zoom right in to find serious hazards to navigation , like you do with vector charts. With a raster chart, if it’s on the chart, it’s on the chart; it might be small, but it’s there. And you don’t have to go to great trouble to find it, like you do with vector charts. Vector charts are wonderful in other ways, but the utility of raster charts in route planning, in conjunction with vector charts should render them being treated more respectfully than merely dumb charts.

Check also BBN Marine OS for raspberry pi4. Many free and opensource boat software packages preinstalled and preconfigured. OpenCPN with all plugins too.

Wow, great video, wonderful software. Thanks for the help getting started. I'd love to see the advanced videos.... Does the GPS dongle need to be outside or will it work inside a house or boat? Keep up the good videos.

Good primer! Please continue. Can you upload to your Raymarine MFD? Like to learn more about the advanced functionality.

thanks and now new sub because of this

thanks for the video .Great

install the usbutils package and then use the command lsusb to list devices on the usb bus.

Thanks for sharing

Thank you so much!!

So very helpful I’d very much like to know more about vesper ais

I love this

yes appreciate thee latest update information - following - I too use Raymarine but my plotter is getting slower and just barely keeping up with more data than designed for. E series I have laptop and large monitor at nav station Open CPN makes sense.

I enjoy your tubes, although I am a power boater I have watched many of them and all of the OpenCPNs and many more than once. Your videos have convinced me to try OpenCPN before I sink more dollars into Garmin mfd's. I wonder if you would be available for private zoom tutoring sessions. First, I would like to develop an equipment list I will need to run OpenCPN same NEMA 2000, gps antennas etc. Next help me get started -- I am computer literate but my assistant or IT department did all the technical stuff. Help!

Merry Christmas found your Vlog informative to load onto my Mac, any idea where I could get charts for the UK, MED, & Scandinavia Happy New Year guys keep up the great work missed your Vlogs

Thank you! :)

Very nice!

My iPad is able to receive data from satellites and thus show my position on the electronic charts I use. Will this work with Open CPN? Bill

David: NIce presentation. Interesting program. Unfortunately the latest version, 5.6.2 on a MacBook Pro doesn't seem to be able to set itself up to successfully download charts from anywhere. This appears to be due to the fact that the Chart Loading Plugin that is supposed to be installed when the basic program installs is not installed or is simply not functional. Given the inertia of the GitHub development system I suspect this will take a while to be recognized let alone fixed. This is most unfortunate. No charts, no navigation program.

Thank you for your David. I was searching for GPS reciever model BU-353 (usb) software for PCs for OpenCPN can you send me a link software maybe add that to the integration portion and never thought that there was a navigation software that was open source. You have given a great explanation of how to get started and I greatly appreciate it.

back again now needing to see how to add the GPS connection which should know where I am by satellite.

G'day David. A question from the dummy. Do I need the GPS puck if the tablet has GPS? The rest of the presentation was easy to follow, thanks.

very niec explaing,david i need to know how to download other regions chart.plz explain it thx

Great video! - I cannot find any charts/maps for Australian Waters?! - I dont know whats going on there, Are you able to help please? Thank you!

Hi David, Your presentation is awesome.... Does this software has chart for persian gulf region???

In your "How we set up our catamaran to sail around the world" video, you mentions that you equipped your boat with a RayMarine chart plotter. What is your opinion of OpenCPN compared to your RayMarine CP ? Do you see OpenCPN as a replacement for your RayMarine chart plotter or a side resource to it ?

Yes more info on this please

Are UK Admiralty charts available to download on Open CPN? Bill

Thank you sooo much for this great tutorial. Covering the basics is so important. ! Quick question, Is there a way to download the manual ? It seems only available when online. Many thanks.

Great video. So, dont most laptops and tablets already have a built in GPS? Would you always have to have an external GPS? Are the charts really free?

I did the download on Mac and all I got was 1file and preview content no file to preview. what now?

Hi David. Just came across your KZfaq video and all the information was great. I am going to follow your instructions. The only issue I can see is to where you get charts for the Plymouth area, Southwest Coast, UK. Could you please give me a direct link to download the chart. Many thanks. John

Great video. This is the first time I've loaded ENC charts. I'm still not seeing the same information you are seeing. I loaded 'all enc' charts, but I only see depth soundings around 50 feet or greater. Coastal waters, bays, etc, do not show any depth soundings. Is there a setting or data I'm failing to see? I have played with all the detail sliders, but can't seem to get depth sounding to display, only scale the ones that are 50' or deeper.

HI, very cool. How I can get the Mediterranean and east Mediterranean sea, IOninon sea etc charts?

Sorry .... adding a tad bit more info. The Vesper xb6000 does deliver info via USB, and NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183. At this point I would prefer using Windows but if necessary... a samsung android tablet.... Definitely NOT anything that has to do with Mac, Ipad, and Apple. I thank you in advance. Guy R Carrier

Great video, David! I've downloaded opencpn and want to give it a try on a trip to BVI next month. Trying to find charts for this region. Would you have any advice?

Excellent video!! We always used Navionics when we boated! We’ll be using this software instead. Can you plug in a Garmin or use a different GPS system on it?

I've used it, or more precisely, tried to use it. Anything but intuitive or user friendly. Pass.

Hi David and Watchers: There was apparently a bug in the Mac version of OpenCPN 5.6.2 that appeared who knows how far back. I think I managed with the help of one of the programmers (who is a liva aboard in Tierra del Fuego!) to help track in down and it appears to be fixed in the pending release of 5.7.1 beta.

Hey thanks, I loaded the software and now trying to load local charts and could use some pointers! Its not intuitive to download charts and setup to use it.

Can you import navonic charts in to open CPN

What else can we plug in