Route & Mark Manager

The Route & Mark Manager lists routes, tracks, waypoints, and layers that are currently loaded into OpenCPN. It allows you to view and modify those navigation objects and their components. The Route & Mark Manager has tabs for

Getting Around

Persistence

Navigation objects in OpenCPN, except for “Temporary layers”, are persistent between OpenCPN sessions. Navigation Data Backup discusses data persistence more fully.

Show/Hide Eye

You can toggle the visibility of active objects by clicking the “eye” to the left of the object name on each line. For waypoints the eye is replaced by the icon shown on the chart for the waypoint. A red X across the “eye” (or waypoint icon) means that the object is invisible.

Sort by Columns

Objects can be sorted by their column header in the Route & Mark Manager. For example, clicking “Route Name” will cause the routes below to be sorted alphabetically. Clicking again reverses the order.

Selection by Ctl - Left-click

You can select multiple objects in the Routes, Tracks, or Waypoints tabs by holding down the CTRL key and left-clicking the objects or by holding the SHIFT key and selecting the first and last object of a group.

Properties by Double Click

Double-clicking on a route, track, or waypoint brings up its Properties dialog. It's a shortcut for selecting the object and clicking the Properties button.

Export & Import GPX Files

You can export and import routes, tracks, waypoints, and layers using the GPX transfer format. This lets you save your routes and marks to external files so you can have more than the active ones - for example, to do route planning or archive existing data.

Keeping a lot of active routes in OpenCPN makes for a cluttered chart display. It also slows the program and makes it use more system resources. Imagine a word processor where every document you ever created was displayed unless you made it invisible. The “Export selected” and “Import GPX” buttons work like the “Save” and “Load” options in most programs. Just as you wouldn't save all your word processing documents in a single giant file, it's not efficient to export all your navigation objects into a single file.

It is more efficient to export each route or track to a separate file. Click on the object, click on the “Export selected” button, name the file, and navigate to the folder in which you want it saved. If you save each route and track in its own file you can import them individually. There is more discussion of a strategy for creating routes at Create Route.

The “Export All Visible” button is useful for making a quick backup copy of all your navigation objects but the resulting file is cumbersome to work with. It is also useful for creating a GPX file that is to be loaded as a layer. Read more at Layers.

Routes

A route is a set of two or more points you wish to visit in a given sequence. Route points can be defined as the route is created or they can be previously defined waypoints or route points. For more information about creating routes read Create Route.

Click the "eye"

to the far left on the line with the route to toggle if the route is displayed or hidden on the chart. A small dialog let you choose if existing marks included in a route will also become invisible. When a route is turned visible, all the shared waypoints are also made visible. Once a route is deleted, such a mark will go back to be a “normal” waypoint.

To Sort routes

Click “Route Name” or “To”

Properties

This button brings up a new dialog with settings that can be changed for each route.

Wpt is right-clicked

A new dialog has popped up. The waypoint properties can be reached and edited. For example, change the default name, “005” in this case, to something more appropriate. Read more in the Extended Marks section. The waypoint can also be deleted. The last entry, “Copy all as text” copies all Route Properties for pasting into a text or Spreadsheet document.

Plan Speed

The overall planned speed for the route. The speed for each leg can be set by going to the waypoint Properties→Description tab for the waypoint that starts the leg, and write in the speed. For example “ VMG=9.7”. [Unfortunately this approach presently excludes writing descriptions for the waypoint. One or the other, be warned!] The Plan Speed value is persistent and will be used for further routes, unless changed. The default value is 6.0 knots.

Departure Time

For Planning: With no departure time the ETE (Estimated Time En route) is calculated. Route is Inactive and normal calculation is ETE. The ETE will be calculated from the First Waypoint of the Route. route-properties-normal-ete.jpg

ETA for Planning - Date & Time

route-inactive-active-date-time-eta.jpg

ETA Planning - Now

route-active-now-eta-wp1.jpg

ETA Planning - Now from Intermediate WP

If the Route is Active and an intermediate Waypoint is Active, say WP5, then “- ”>“ - issued at 14:00 on 06/04/2016 - calculates departure “Now” from the current boat position, including the distance to the currently “active waypoint” of the route. Waypoints before the active waypoint are left empty.

ETA - During Passage

  1. Set Route “Active” Route & time shown as “Local@PC”.
  2. If you are simulating this condition you may need to right click on the next WP and pick “Active”.
  3. On an ocean passage, after a week of sailing, calculate ETA to the following WP.
  4. Set the route as “active” & next WP as “active”.
  5. Then, when entering ”>“=“now” as Departure Time, all the ETAs are from your real position TO THE NEXT WP, not to the beginning of the route.
  6. The ETA to the active waypoint is from Ownship to the WP. Note the Active Waypoint Console.

route-active-now-eta-wp4.jpg

Time UTC is a new name for GMT. LMT is a local mean time based on the present longitude. For Local Zone Time one can also enter the keyword “Now”.

Color Set the displayed color of the track or keep the default.

Style Solid, dashes, dots, a combination or keep the default.

Width Set the width of the track or keep or keep the default. Marking a line with the leg number and the destination Waypoint in the Properties Dialog also marks the Waypoint on the chart with a blue square.

The lower part of the Route properties dialog now has

Print Route button. It is possible to first select what features to print before being sent to the normal print routine.

Extend Route

Extending is possible only when it is obvious, what should be joined with the current route (current=visible in the Dialog).

Split Route

For splitting, the split point is selected as the row in the listing. The point-of-split becomes part of both new routes (shared) or tracks (cloned). Original route-track is deleted.

Activate-Deactivate

Activates-Deactivates a route marked in the left part of the window.

Zoom to

Zooms in on a route marked in the left part of the window.

Reverse

Reverses a selected route. It's possible to cancel the reverse operation through a confirmation dialog. *

Delete

Deletes selected route or track. Use the Shift key to mark multiple routes for deletion. This also work in the other Route manager tabs.

Export Route

Save the route on your computer for later use (import)

Send to GPS

Send the Route to your GPS. Pressing the button activates a dialog were an output port is selected. This port does not have to be listed in “Connections” as it is an independent feature. This choice also appears in the right click menu for routes and waypoints. For Garmin Users, make sure that the ToolBox→GPS→”Use Garmin GRMN-GRMN (Host) mode for Waypoint and Route uploads” box is ticked. The reason for this is that Garmin units cannot accept route uploads via NMEA0183. This is a “design feature” of all Garmin receivers.

Delete All

Be careful. If you know you have saved the routes on your computer and are able to import the again, this is a simple way to clear the screen from routes. Better be safe than sorry, so save before deleting, if you want to be able to use the routes again.

Import

Import one or more previously saved Routes, or Routes from other gpx compatible applications. It is possible to select and import multiple routes. The default waypoint icon bitmap is a circle. This kicks in if the icon in the imported gpx-file is not recognized.

Export All Visible

Saves all visible routes, waypoints and layers, in one gpx file. This is done through a normal file saving dialog.

Tidal Column - Use and activation

To Show tidal heights in the column, open the “Tidal Height Curve Dialog” for an individual tidal station so that it is shown on the screen as below. The tidal situation for this station will be tabulated along all route points in the route properties dialog.

Tracks

Make sure that you have read all about Automatic Daily tracks and track Highlighting in the Documentation on the Own Ship.

Eye

The visibility of tracks is controlled by clicking the “eye” on each line.

Sorting

Tracks can be sorted by clicking the column headers. Tracks are extended backward, based on the time-stamp sequence, a track is selected, which ends as the latest one before the start of current track. Tracks are extended as a single segment if they share the extending point. If they have no common point a new “empty” segment, with no visible track, is added.

Joining

Joining two tracks (i.e. extending a track) results in just track one remaining. It may look like two tracks but the Route Manager treats it as a single track.

Merge Selected Tracks

An alternative to “Extend Track” where two separate tracks are joined. The difference is that Merged tracks are visibly joined by straight track-lines. Read on for instructions on merging tracks.

Copy as text

Copies the track name, unless it's the default time stamp, and the track distance. The result of clicking the merge button.

Reduce Track Data

Track Properties

The track properties dialog is similar to the route properties dialog above. There are some obvious differences as a track describes something that took place in the past and a route is planning for the future. Track properties also has an Advanced tab that works similar to the Extended Marks dialog.

Waypoints

FAQ

Is there a way to change the WP 'Icon' in a route?

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f134/change-route-wp-icon-192133.html

To change a single WP icon of a route go to the properties window with a right click on the WP icon. To Globally change a Route's WP Icons is not possible because the icon Diamond is hard coded in the source. However it is possible to change globally the WP icon for normal WPs, the triangle. To do that search a line with “DefaultWPIcon=…” in opencpn.ini.

Also see Use your own Icons

See Navobj