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Jim Healy

Thu, Jun 21, 2012 4:31 PM

From: Jim Healy gilwellbear@gmail.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Sharing NMEA Data over a Windows Network
Date: June 21, 2012 12:31:04 PM EDT
To: fburrows@mail.com

Frank,

The unpleasant truth seems to be, there may be no way to "get there from here" with CE, especially depending on what manufacturer nav equipment you have. It appears Garmin is especially problematic. I have an Actisense NGT-1 N2K-to-USB adapter, which CE says they support. The also sell on of their own, under the "Rosepoint" name. In my case, I can receive position data coming from my Garmin GPSmap 541 chartplotter into CE via N2K, but I cannot use the CE function, "Send Route to GS," to send a route to my chartplotter fom CE. It appears the punch line is, "support" doesn't mean "full, two-way support." Not sure CE's at fault, though. The issue is the nav device manufacturer supporting the two-way data exchange protocols and having the marine device be able to generate (outbound) and interpret (inbound) the command data stream, called a "PGN" in N2K parlance. Here's an exchange I had with Steve Hodges, CE tech support, on my Garmin route transfer item. It may provide insight into your case:

Quote:

Currently you cannot send Routes, etc., to an NMEA 2000 device. There are several technical and practical reasons for this, but we do hope to add support for that in a future update. In the meantime, the only way is via NMEA 0183, although Garmin doesn't support the standard NMEA 0183 means for doing this.

As for the reasons:

We are not aware of any NMEA 2000 chart plotter that actually supports the NMEA 2000 PGN's for route transfer.
Garmin in particular is very unlikely to support it, since then they would be compatible with competitors hardware, and they are notorious for not fully utilizing open standards, since using proprietary methods attempts to ensure that the Garmin logo is on every bit of navigation instrumentation on your boat.

As I said before, if we can ever find a plotter that supports the standard PGN's, and we can get our hands on one for testing, we'll add support for it.

<SNIP>

NMEA 2000 is still a maturing standard, and equipment manufacturers are still trying to figure out how to do it, so you can expect things to improve over time, although I still doubt Garmin will ever support route transfer in a standard way, but here's hoping."

End Quote:

Suggest you contact CE tech support and discuss the specific equipment and configuration you're dealing with.

Jim

Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary
Currently at Kingston, NY, on the Hudson
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436

> From: Jim Healy <gilwellbear@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: T&T: Sharing NMEA Data over a Windows Network > Date: June 21, 2012 12:31:04 PM EDT > To: fburrows@mail.com > > Frank, > > The unpleasant truth seems to be, there may be no way to "get there from here" with CE, especially depending on what manufacturer nav equipment you have. It appears Garmin is especially problematic. I have an Actisense NGT-1 N2K-to-USB adapter, which CE says they support. The also sell on of their own, under the "Rosepoint" name. In my case, I can receive position data coming from my Garmin GPSmap 541 chartplotter into CE via N2K, but I cannot use the CE function, "Send Route to GS," to send a route to my chartplotter fom CE. It appears the punch line is, "support" doesn't mean "full, two-way support." Not sure CE's at fault, though. The issue is the nav device manufacturer supporting the two-way data exchange protocols and having the marine device be able to generate (outbound) and interpret (inbound) the command data stream, called a "PGN" in N2K parlance. Here's an exchange I had with Steve Hodges, CE tech support, on my Garmin route transfer item. It may provide insight into your case: > > Quote: > > Currently you cannot send Routes, etc., to an NMEA 2000 device. There are several technical and practical reasons for this, but we do hope to add support for that in a future update. In the meantime, the only way is via NMEA 0183, although Garmin doesn't support the standard NMEA 0183 means for doing this. > > As for the reasons: > > 1. We are not aware of any NMEA 2000 chart plotter that actually supports the NMEA 2000 PGN's for route transfer. > 2. Garmin in particular is very unlikely to support it, since then they would be compatible with competitors hardware, and they are notorious for not fully utilizing open standards, since using proprietary methods attempts to ensure that the Garmin logo is on every bit of navigation instrumentation on your boat. > > As I said before, if we can ever find a plotter that supports the standard PGN's, and we can get our hands on one for testing, we'll add support for it. > > <SNIP> > > NMEA 2000 is still a maturing standard, and equipment manufacturers are still trying to figure out how to do it, so you can expect things to improve over time, although I still doubt Garmin will ever support route transfer in a standard way, but here's hoping." > > End Quote: > > Suggest you contact CE tech support and discuss the specific equipment and configuration you're dealing with. > > Jim > > Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary > Currently at Kingston, NY, on the Hudson > Monk 36 Hull #132 > MMSI #367042570 > AGLCA #3767 > MTOA #3436 >

BM

Bob McLeran

Thu, Jun 21, 2012 7:05 PM

The advice Jim received from CE (quoted below) is half-correct. Garmin
doesn't support waypoint/route/track exchange using NMEA 183 protocol;
apparently CE doesn't support the Garmin protocol!

If you use a "mature" navigation program like Fugawi <BG>, which does
support both NMEA 183 and Garmin protocols (as well as several others),
you won't have any trouble exchanging that data!!!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida
Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog
Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/

On 6/21/2012 12:31 PM, Jim Healy wrote:

Currently you cannot send Routes, etc., to an NMEA 2000 device.
There are several technical and practical reasons for this, but we do
hope to add support for that in a future update. In the meantime,
the only way is via NMEA 0183, although Garmin doesn't support the
standard NMEA 0183 means for doing this.

The advice Jim received from CE (quoted below) is half-correct. Garmin doesn't support waypoint/route/track exchange using NMEA 183 protocol; apparently CE doesn't support the Garmin protocol! If you use a "mature" navigation program like Fugawi <BG>, which does support both NMEA 183 and Garmin protocols (as well as several others), you won't have any trouble exchanging that data!!! <><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><> Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/ On 6/21/2012 12:31 PM, Jim Healy wrote: > Currently you cannot send Routes, etc., to an NMEA 2000 device. > There are several technical and practical reasons for this, but we do > hope to add support for that in a future update. In the meantime, > the only way is via NMEA 0183, although Garmin doesn't support the > standard NMEA 0183 means for doing this.

RG

Rich Gano

Thu, Jun 21, 2012 7:41 PM

I ran into the route-transfer issue between Garmin and CE in 2009 and got
the same comments. I see from Jim Healy's comment, that nothing has
changed. I have had excellent luck using a more circuitous route through
Garmin's cheap waypoint manager software to get routes from CE to a Garmin
chartplotter equipped with SD chip slot. First, you buy a bigger capacity
SD chip than what Garmin sends with their chartplotter. Then export from CE
to the chip whatever you want sent across be it marks (waypoints), routes,
or tracks. Stick the chip in the chartplotter and merge the data. I can
whistle through the process in several minutes even while running down the
waterway.

I only go from CE to Garmin and not vice versa because the laptop CE is
soooo much simpler to use in planning and revising routes.

Rich Gano
Calypso (GB42 Hull # 295)
Panama City area, FL

I ran into the route-transfer issue between Garmin and CE in 2009 and got the same comments. I see from Jim Healy's comment, that nothing has changed. I have had excellent luck using a more circuitous route through Garmin's cheap waypoint manager software to get routes from CE to a Garmin chartplotter equipped with SD chip slot. First, you buy a bigger capacity SD chip than what Garmin sends with their chartplotter. Then export from CE to the chip whatever you want sent across be it marks (waypoints), routes, or tracks. Stick the chip in the chartplotter and merge the data. I can whistle through the process in several minutes even while running down the waterway. I only go from CE to Garmin and not vice versa because the laptop CE is soooo much simpler to use in planning and revising routes. Rich Gano Calypso (GB42 Hull # 295) Panama City area, FL

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