Voyage Planner - Blank NOAA ENC Chart

[dgpete]

Hi There,
Searched the forum but saw nothing so:
in Voyage Planner I have successfully imported and can open and use my Navionics+ charts, all the NOAA ENCs for the areas I sail with no issues, but in the 07-Florida East Coast group, the US5FL41M chart is completely BLANK. It shows a crude base map type FL coast with a red box outlining the chart area but there is no data beyond that.

I have re-downloaded the entire set three times and have tried it on both my laptop on the boat and my desktop at home and have exactly the same issue with only that chart so I assume it isn't my program/internet/etc.

So I then went to the NOAA site and downloaded the same US5FL41M chart which has 12 files in the cart folder. Same names but much larger than the ones in the Voyage Planner folder which makes sense if they have data and the VP ones do not, but after I replaced the same files in the VP folder, when I tried to OPEN them in VP it failed and I got multiple error message (6 I think, same number as chart files in the folder.)

My question is does Voyage Planner DL these directly from NOAA and if so, why will it not open the ones I DLed directly and replaced, or am I getting these NOAA ENC charts thru a Raymarine Server that has this bad chart? or??
And is it possible/ok to DL charts directly from NOAA? and IF yes, what did I do wrong to get the error messages/fail to open the charts??? I checked the HELP files but no joy...
I'm lost.... ;-)
Thanks very much for any help!
Doug

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Doug,

Please excuse this late response to your question, as I was waiting to determine whether a later NOAA ENC chart update would correct the issue reported. Occasionally, problems associated with the NOAA data can result in problem such as you have reported. NOAA charts downloaded outside of Voyage Planner cannot be installed into Voyage Planner. Generally, problems as you have described are resolved within a few days after NOAA has updated its databases. As you can see by my attachment to this post, the latest NOAA ENC chart update for 07 Florida East Coast and the Keys does not have this issue. It is recommended that you inspect the Settings->Charts within Voyage Planner to determine where charts downloaded via Voyage Planner are being stored on your computer. Voyage Planner should then be exited and the "07 Florida East Coast and the Keys" folder within the "NOAA ENC" folder should then be deleted. Voyage Planner should then be run and the 07 Florida East Coast and the Keys region should once again be downloaded via Voyage Planner.

[dgpete]

Thank you Chuck.
As suggested, I deleted the ENCs for Florida (07) again and re-downloaded them from within VP just now.

Now I have a slightly different version of the issue:
If I do the ALL 07 Charts load, in the US5FL41M location I see the land masses detailed correctly now whereas before it was just the crude Base Map with nothing detailed. Now I see the depths correctly BUT there are NO Markers.

If I open ONLY the US5FL41M chart I see the crude Base Map land mass like before BUT now I see the depths overlayed over the water and land where the ICW should be on the chart.

I will attach two screen shots to illustrate... BTW the two screenshots are of the same area at about the same zoom.

In the ALL of 07 chart screen you are seeing the northern chart leading to Ft Pierce, the data for Ft Pierce is minimal because that is in a separate harbor chart, and the bottom area shows the land/water OK and the depths fine but no markers, and there are a lot there, just a hundred yards from me on the boat right now....

The second screenshot of just the US5FL41M in the same location, showns the depths over the Base Map even tho this is the same chart used by VP to create the first chart spread!

I'm going to do a uninstall, delete all the Directories and re-install VP and all charts entirely....

weird, huh?

Thanks again for you help!
Doug

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Doug,

As you can see from the screenshot below, the charts which I recently downloaded are not exhibiting the issue.




Given the symptoms which you have reported, your suggested actions would be considered to be the next logical steps in correcting the reported issue.

[dgpete]

Thanks Chuck,
I think we might be comparing apples to oranges so let me ask you to do one more thing if you would please.

Yesterday here on the boat I did the following:

A. Uninstalled Voyage Planner and deleted all Directories and charts and rebooted twice
B Re-downloaded a new copy of VP and re-installed it.
C. Did a download from within VP of only the NOAA 07 FL East Coast and Keys chart region.
D. Opened one chart tab with ONLY the US5FL41M Chart
E Opened a second chart tab using "Open all charts in 07 Florida East Coast and Keys" command/link
F. centered both chart displays on 27deg 10.0 min N, 80 deg 10.8 min W which is right in the "crossroads" of the St Lucie Inlet and the ICW near Stuart FL.
I then went to the NOAA ENC Online viewer and centered it on the same location.

My attached image 01 is a screenshot of the NOAA ENC Online viewer which shows all the correct depth, marks, etc.

If you look at image 02 you will see the the VP chart tab that was opened with the ALL CHARTS in 07 option (E. above). Note there is the correct land mass but no data for the area of the US5FL41M chart. There IS data from the Okeechobee Waterway chart and there are depths offshore but noting in the ICW and the Inlet.

Now if you look at image 03, that is the VP chart tab with ONLY US5FL41M open, centered on that same inlet's Lat/Long. Depths but nothing else. Even the land mass is just the base map. Every other chart I have opened by itself displays all the data fine.

I was kind of shocked since i fully expected a clean re-install to do the trick. I am on the boat currently so I could not compare this to my other VP install on my desktop but I'm reasonably sure it would be the same.

So, just for fun, I downloaded the 10 Day Trial of Rose Point's Coastal Marine and did an identical Download of that exact same NOAA ENC 07 chart region.

My Image 04 is the Compass Marine display of that same St Lucie Inlet area and it is exactly like the NOAA Online view with all the relevant data displayed.

Would you please open a map tab in VP with ONLY the single US5FL41M chart on display and also check that same inlet location with all the FL charts open and see if you now get the same results?

For me (and I'm suspecting for you too since I did a clean re-install) it looks like VP is having some issue with something in that one set of US5FL41M files.
Thanks very much!
Doug

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Doug,

Thanks for clarifying the problem reported. I have duplicated the reported issue with the the US5FL41M Chart. A problem report will be logged to seek correction of this issue within a future VP software update. As an interim workaround, you may want to consider using the NOAA RNCs, LightHouse Charts, or Navionics cartography in this location.

[dgpete]

Thanks much Chuck!
Yes, I'll DL the 07 region as RNCs.
At least I don't feel so crazy now! ;-)

Being new to VP I have one more item:
Can VP running on my laptop, if connected to my e125's wireless network, transfer routes and waypoints to the plotter via WiFi, like I can with my iPad's Navionics App?
Can I connect the Laptop to the SeaTalk network somehow and Xfer that way?
Or do I need to use the old Sneaker Net with the Micro SD?
Is WiFi Xfer something that is planned?

Thanks again!
Doug

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Doug,

Q. Can VP running on my laptop, if connected to my e125's wireless network, transfer routes and waypoints to the plotter via WiFi, like I can with my iPad's Navionics App?
Can I connect the Laptop to the SeaTalk network somehow and Xfer that way?
Or do I need to use the old Sneaker Net with the Micro SD?
Is WiFi Xfer something that is planned?
A. While earlier versions of VP in conjunction with LightHouse software had permitted waypoint/route transfer via both Wi-Fi and Ethernet network connections to the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs, such data transducer may only occur via a microSD memory card at this time. Raymarine is considering restoration of Wi-Fi and/or Ethernet waypoint/route/track transfer within a future software release.