2021-10-11, 09:24 AM
(2021-10-11, 02:04 AM)SVHM Wrote: 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. 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.
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?
Hi SVHM,
I can imagine that this thread might sound strange indeed at first glance, and I'm not saying or want to convince this is something that everyone should have.
I'm a big fan of OpenCPN, but operating some aspects of it (like drawing a route, activating it and sending it to the autopilot) requires some fine movements of a mouse (when using vnc headless or an hdmi set-up). When I'm sailing solo I'm not always able to operate a mouse below deck, or use VNC from a tablet this is a challenge for me. I also do realize that drawing a route is not always something you'd even want to do while sailing, rather doing it before you leave. However, I've found myself in situations that while sailing sole, I want to plot/draw a route of multiple waypoints and send it to the autopilot. In this case I needed to be quick, and pay attention to the weather, traffic, etc. I've found that in my specific set-up that drawing a route in some web-based applications was more mobile / responsiveness friendly. So that's why I thought to share the idea / request to consider how to make these operations easier in rougher conditions.
I do realize there are touch screens available and that OpenCPN is touchscreen compatible. However, I'd rather use OpenCPN from a system that has more CPU/GPU/RAM resources and is capable of running OpenCPN and performing some heavier calculations. In my case that would be an external stand-alone system like a good laptop, which will connect to the Raspberry Pi as a server. Another option might be using the (un)official Android App of OpenCPN, but I've found that not all features are working well or are not (yet) available.
About the web-application part, I am not using any online resources for loading the mbtiles charts. I have offline repositories for that, so at this moment Freeboard is loading them locally without the need of Internet, just like OpenCPN. Only difference is that the app can be loaded in a browser. As a lot of smart devices have browsers in my case it saves me time to just be able to go to 10.10.10.1:3000 (or another IP dependent of how you connect to your local network). I'm not saying I prefer web-applications, and indeed OpenCPN provides much much more capabilities. It would take a lot of effort and time to have something similar like OpenCPN in a web application. Also, the idea that you don't need to install anything anymore on the smart devices and just use the browser to load the web application is quite appealing to me. But, on the other hand I do need to make concessions on the fact that it will support less features.
(By the way, I was able to at least mitigate the aspect of not having to install client software like VNC. I installed Apache Guacamole so I could do VNC through a browser window. This was really cool, no client software needed. But still in this case I had to cope with mouse movements. And there was an issue with Java or OpenJDK that significantly increased boot-time so in the end I deactivated it)