I’m trying to get this beta feature to work. I started by checking New Cloud-Synchronization Layer in Rose Point Labs. Went to Voyage Plan\Files and clicked on the blue highlighted “New Cloud-Synchronized Layer” but nothing happens. I was expecting a dialog box to open so I can establish a name for my new Layer. Did I miss something?
How does the Cloud Synchronization feature differ from saving my Voyage Plan to OneDrive? Both require an Internet connection and I can access the OneDrive Voyage Plan from my home computer. Does saving the Voyage Plan to Rose Point server offer a greater degree of safety?
I think you need to use “Settings > Sync Now” after enabling Cloud-Synchronization and we forgot to mention that in the notes… Please give that a try and let us know if it works for you.
This is different than saving voyage plan documents to OneDrive in several ways:
If you make changes to a document in OneDrive on two computers while they are offline, and then the go online and synchronize with the OneDrive servers, only one set of changes will survive. This will happen even if you added a route on one PC and added a completely unrelated event mark on the other; one OneDrive synchronizes, you will be left with either the route or the event mark. Our Cloud-Synchronization feature saves each object separately so this sort of problem doesn’t happen (though if you make offline changes to the same object, a similar problem will occur).
Our Cloud-Synchronization not only works between your PC’s, but also works with Coastal Explorer on iPads and iPhones.
The new layers will enable us to implement many useful features in the future that either can’t be done, or would be very difficult to do with documents. We expect to be able to enable viewing multiple layers at a time and more easily organize large collections of objects in the near future.
Thanks, that worked. Now I have a blank slate and can add Routes. Is there a way to port over all my routes from an existing Voyage Plan? I have over 100 carefully planned routes and marks.
This feature seems to work well, but I did encounter an annoyance. I created a new layer and then imported “My Routes.nob”. All of my old navigation objects were there! Then I opened that collection on my iPad and all of my navigation objects were there! But…
In Windows CE, you can create a route, not give it a name, and CE will give it a default name of (departure location to destination location). The beauty of this is that when you reverse the route, the name automatically changes. So now, when I sync my new layer with my iPad, it leaves all of my routes without names and total distance.
Not providing a default route name and not calculating the total distance are a limitations of the app and we’ll get those fixed soon.
By the way, when you reverse a route with a set name that is like the automatic names (e.g. “here to there”), Coastal Explorer will swap the parts before and after the “to”; this is not only done for name-less routes.
I am trying to use the same feature and unfortunately cannot make this work. I have enabled the Labs feature on my Windows CE, created a new collection, imported routes, and pressed the Sync in settings (tried sync multiple times). Still, when I log in to my iPad, the collection is not there. I made sure I am logged in under the same account.
Please try opening the Coastal Explorer App on your iPad, then tap on the Voyage Plan button on the left side of the screen and select “Layers” from the top of the panel. Do you see anything listed under the “Layers” category? Perhaps the name you gave the Cloud-Synchronized Layer in Coastal Explorer on the PC or (Untitled)?
I’m also using these layers for the first time and may be missing something.
I’ve created a New Cloud Synchronized Layer and then used the Import Objects into the current document to bring over a collection of saved routes. This works but some of the routes and waypoints are missing leading to routes that run across land etc. Much of what’s missing is fixable but requires looking over each route.
We haven’t seen that happen before… Would you be willing to send the document you imported to support@rosepoint.com so we can try to reproduce the problem?
I, too, am trying the Cloud Sync Layer feature. I just set one up on my planning PC, and called it “Southern California”. I then loaded Coastal Explorer on my iPad, logged in, and did not see that layer. Instead I saw “My Routes” and (Untitled). When I selected the Untitled layer, I saw the four routes I created on the PC… but when I looked back at the PC, it too showed the Layer as Untitled - the name and description I created had been lost.
Another question about this feature. Are tracks and marks made underway stored in this shared layer as they are in voyage plan documents?
Thanks,
Larry O’Keefe
MV Miss Miranda
Currently, San Diego, CA
Thanks for the report! We’ll try to reproduce the problem with layer names not sticking.
Yes, new tracks and other marks you create are all stored in the current layer or voyage plan document, whichever is selected.
It looks like I forgot to post here after finding the problem reported by Ibis(Charlie) a couple of weeks ago…sorry about that! The waypoints missing from some of the imported routes were caused by including the waypoints in more than one route. We’ll get this fixed for the next update!
“We expect to be able to enable viewing multiple layers at a time and more easily organize large collections of objects in the near future.”
What is the size or number of entry limitations for the Cloud Synchronization Layer?
Would 250 routes and Marks be a problem? I’m in the process of organizing a new PC and while I’m at it can split up my Cloud Layer if absolutely necessary. In the past I have worked with a single .nob file with everything in one place. This has worked well when not connected to the Internet and find a need to quickly select a new route or mark. Rich Cassano, S/V Gray Eagle
There’s no set limit to the number of routes and marks in a layer (just like .nob files). They are really just a tool for you to use to organize things in a way that makes sense to you. Personally I would go crazy with 250 routes in a single .nob file or layer, but if that is what has worked well for you, then you could just keep all of them in a single layer. It really depends on personal preference more than anything else.
The primary reason for splitting things into separate layers is so you don’t need to see all of your objects all at once but can easily switch from looking at one layer to another (and soon, be able to see more than one, but not necessarily all, at once).
Even though cloud-synchronized layers use the internet to synchronize the objects they contain, each object (route, mark, etc) is transferred individually, so if you make changes to one route in a layer of 250, only that one route is transferred to/from “the cloud”. (This is very different than a “.nob” file where saving changes to a single route requires writing a whole new file.)
