I posted this over on the TSBB - thought some folks here might find it useful.....
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Wanna have some fun dreaming and planning while waiting for Spring? Wanna get in the boat and go somewhere without leaving your computer? Well I think I can fix you up!
I have been doing a bit of playing around with a couple of online tools and found a neat visual planning arrangement for cruises - and its all free! Just requires a bit of time on your part. You can plan those spring cruises and actually SEE where you will be and what you will encounter.
The first step is to go to your favorite chart planner package and create a dream route for your future travel. Just to demonstrate, I used Open Captain and created a very short route from the downtown Washington, NC waterfront to the boatyard where I am currently doing some DIY work.
Using Open Captain, I selected the route that I just created from the route manager, and exported it to a ".gpx" file. You can use whatever chart tool you want as long as it can export to a the very common ".gpx" format. Save to your desktop or somewhere convenient.
Once the file is saved, download and open Google Earth Pro (it is now free!). Google it. This is well worth the time to download, trust me.
Then, once installed and opened up, from Google Earth, select File/Import and choose your saved GPX file. When importing, choose the selection box to "Create KML LineStrings" that pops up. You will need this to end up with a real "route" that would normally have been recorded by a live GPS tracker. Leave "Create KML Tracks" turned on also.
After the import, you will see your planned route on the screen as a line, along with the waypoints you used when entering it in the chart plotter.
Now comes the cool part......
Go over to the left top window pane where your imported file is, under "Temporary Places/GPS device" and open up the "Routes" folder and see the sub-folder you named as your route. Under that, after clicking, you will see two checkboxes, one for the waypoints (Points), and one for the track (Path). Uncheck the Points box (you'll find out what that does later) and leave just the Path box checked.
Now, highlight that same "Path" folder name by clicking on it, then go down to the lower right of that same folders window and look for a little button in the corner that matches the icon next to the Path folder. When you hover over it, it should say, "Play Tour". Click on that and get ready.....
A control panel will appear in the lower left of the GoogleEarth window and your "tour" will begin. Ahhhhh. Very cool. You can sit back and watch as your imaginary cruise begins, taking off from the dock and heading out into open water - making good time to your next destination.
Now, if you've made it this far, you're in for a real treat. If you have not, I am sorry. It will probably be worth your while to start over and try again before giving up. Trust me.
Having watched (at least part of) your tour, you now have a "Boat"-load of options:
First, the little control panel in the lower left allows you to move the slider back and forth, pause, fast forward, or rewind. If you click the disk button when the tour ends, you can save a copy (after you name it) into your folder list at the left top window.
Next, if you click "Tools/Options/Touring" from the top bar, you can set ALL KINDS of things from camera angles, to travel speed, to pauses (if you left the "Points" checkbox turned on above"), and all kinds of other stuff. I haven't played with much of all that is available to date, but there is plenty of info on the net on how to do stuff.
You can also turn on and off features displayed on the earth with the lower of the two windows at the left just by clicking different boxes - photos, places, borderlines, 3D buildings, etc.
Finally, you can also make a movie of your tour to send to your friends or watch on your TV!! Here's a quick movie I made for the short route above:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/PKFVnhsd8xQ
For longer journeys, you will probably want to use the fast-forward buttons on the control bar and then a quick pause/plan double-tap to slow back down when you get somewhere interesting.
So, for only about an hour's worth of time/investment, you can plan, and actually EXPERIENCE, you next cruise and actually SEE what you will encounter at destinations, dock types, bridges, waterfront features, etc. !!!
A bit of techno-nerdy stuff to maybe help you through the cold spots - hope you enjoy,
Ray
PS - [I have a bit of fear that half of the free world already knew all this and, as usual, I am just waking up a decade late and $1000 short......]