Web-based autopilot route

[seandepagnier]

- Users must be able to activate a route in Freeboard. All APB messages will be generated by either Freeboard, or a SignalK plug-in or data connection? However, I can imagine that it is difficult to replicate the logic (that is already present in OpenCPN) needed for this. However, I consider it a possible advantage because no running OpenCPN instance is needed so probably less CPU/RAM resources required. But, on the other hand I am not sure what the calculation of a future Signalk plug-in might need for the same requirement. I am not sure if Freeboard can calculate all the values needed to let an autopilot know when a course correction needs to be executed. And, if some kind of functionality like this is possible I can also imagine that users will definitely want to finetune the behavior.

If the bearing to take is computed by freeboard, all it really needs to do is put this in the APB message and send it to pypilot.   I don't know what it does I have not used/studied freeboard much but if it has computed the bearing it probably would not be difficult to make it work.

- When it comes to route following behavior I know Sean that you have developed a really cool OpenCPN route plug-in. This enables the user to configure some settings. One of which I remember was when to engage the new course (if next waypoint is at X meters, then engage next waypoint). Some time ago we have discussed in another post that some users including me had trouble that the plug-in kept crashing. We didn't yet got to fixing that problem. But, anyway my point being is that the main idea of this plug-in is awesome. Just thinking out loud here, if Freeboard or SignalK have the capability of doing something similar might it be an idea to put this functionality there.

I am going to re-test the plugin.   I don't know what the problem is and claiming it crashes isn't a backtrace.   Anyway if I can get it to crash or   better feedback I could fix it.   It does a much better calculation compared to the standard XTE method which fails near waypoints with sharp turns often.

This is a strange thread.  I am curious what the benefit of a web-based application is on a boat.  I have been using OpenCPN for eight years now and I am having difficulty understanding how suddenly a web-based application is better.

Well.  I basically agree with you here but, I will play the contrary advocate.

Everything in future is supposed to be web, because most developers do not go 1 second of a 24 hour day without a high speed connection so much software and frameworks assume such. Many are taught only web development as well so they tend to remain biased. How many people change their religion from the one of their parents?

 So maybe thousands of times the available effort specific to boating is already put into map rendering for web tile maps that can be leveraged by a chart plotter by a few calls could take years and years to get what we have in opencpn which is handwritten (in some cases even assembly intrinsics) and all the different cases for different processors and graphics processors puts a huge burden on few developers and in the past few years the pace is slow.  At current rate, the web-based method may (sadly) overtake opencpn in 10 year or so future because simply not enough developers specific to opencpn compared to leveraging more universal rendering code.

 Pypilot represents a true cutting edge development in the open source community and it is integrated well with OpenCPN.  Looking at AvNav, I don't see what the added value is over OpenCPN.  Moreover, on the face of it, it looks like it and Freeboard are implementations or derivatives of OpenSeaMap, which I have continuously tried over the years, and failed, to find any value in.

Can someone please explain what the value of a web-based solution is and why it is better than OpenCPN?  There is no World Wide Web at sea.  Doesn't this just add a layer between OpenCPN/Pypilot and the user.  What is a web-based application's benefit over VNC?  It seems like the motivation for this discussion is to somehow lead the development of Pypilot and OpenCPN in a direction that supports the development of these other programs and to make up for their deficits.    

The current benefits are an alternative (although currently inferior) as well as the potential that the web will likely be available at sea in the near future (also sad)

vnc uses more bandwidth and slower performance as all of the rendering is remote.   the web application can leverage local gpu resources and local disk for cache etc.   For practical use it may not really make much difference but vnc is not a very efficient system.

Wouldn't it be better to have an API and let others go their own way toward developing their own software?  Also, wouldn't it be better if Pypilot functionality were continually improved to add autopilot functionality rather than to be trying to fit it into the schemes of others?

I am waiting for the other plotter to output APB.   Just a few weeks ago avnav was updated and in theory should work with pypilot (untested)   as for freeboard I do not know.   I am having enough trouble dealing with signalk:  https://github.com/SignalK/specification/pull/624    but maybe someday that will work.   I know avnav doesn't even work with signalk to output data because of signalk's somewhat ridiculous (in my opinion) security measures which when encrypted wifi is being used, I don't really understand the need for using multiple api (http get and set requests) and websockets etc.   Quite a complex method, but perhaps it protects against viruses/worms or malicious former-guests who still know your wifi code and want to take over your boat.