Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does a paper-based or app-based chart product from nv charts have an equivalent free or discounted chart download from the Fugawi.com service?
A: Before October 2016, the old X-Traverse promotional offer provided a free download matching a purchased nv charts paper kit. No such offer is available at the time of this writing but such deals may resume in the future -- we will announce any such promotions on our Fugawi Facebook page. And, of course, Fugawi.com/charts is pleased to sell you a wide range of nv charts regions.

Q: What happens when a chart subscription expires? Do the charts disappear?
A: Whatever charts you downloaded stay resident in device memory / drive indefinitely available for planning, navigation, etc. The chart's subscription status matters only when you wish to download new chart updates, or when a device's memory is reset, or a new device comes into service; you may wish to renew your subscription or buy a new edition year of the same chart area in these cases. Occasionally, technical issues concerning low free memory, iOS updates, app updates, etc. may cause unexpected issues for retaining charts; in such a case, contact support@x-traverse.com as the first source of consultation on resolving such issues.

Q: How do I transfer these charts to other devices or computers?
A: You do not transfer chart files from device to device, or hard drive to hard drive, not as such. What happens is you use a spare chart subscription to activate to a new target device / computer with its compatible charting app; just download a fresh copy of the chart files to that secondary device. If you are out of subscription range or have exceeded the normal 2 device / computer license limit, contact support@x-traverse.com for your options.

Q: Can I share charts with other apps such as the nv charts branded software?
A: No, generally charts in one app are licensed locked to that app. Other apps, generally, can not reach into another app's store of charts and borrow them.

Q: Do the chart files get backed up to a computer via USB synchronization? or to external drives?
A: No, the chart files are digital-rights locked to a specific device / computer. Charts do not backup and restore other than through a re-download via Internet connection to the Fugawi.com web service.

Q: How often are the charts updated?
A: Usually a given chart collection is updated two or three times in the edition year. Sometimes another update is produced in the following year if no formal new edition is published in paper. Fugawi sends out emails to all chart subscribers when an update is ready. Update file wholly replace old files. Any corrections for charts are passed along to nv charts cartography team.

Q: If I update the charts (thereby deleting old versions) do my waypoints and routes get erased?
A: No, that is not a concern. Waypoints and routes are always stored quite apart from any chart even though they visually hover on top of chart graphics. Mind you, charting software always has export options for waypoints and routes, so you would do well to exporting archives of your data once in a while.

Q: The charts are not seamless; how do I transition from one chart to a chart in an adjacent geographic area?
A: For iNavX... What always works (but is not always convenient) is to return to the master charts list and look for the next chart over based on chart name and/or number. However, if an overview scale chart shows sub-charts as red rectangular outlines, tap on the rectangle to see if the sub-chart is offered along with other query data.
For OpenCPN... The first time you download these charts into OpenCPN, a process analyzes and sorts the charts by relative position and scale in order to prepare them for a quilted view of all the charts at all scales for this collection. OpenCPN gives you that quilted view plus the ability to call up individual charts.
For other software... Read the help menu materials provided by the software under the topic of "auto-loading" or "adjacent charts" or other similar phrases.

Q: How can I get advice and technical support?
A: Email charts@fugawi.com for fast custom responses providing expert support on chart purchase advice, subscription information and justified resets, and download help / error message resolution. We will refer you to iNavX ( ios-support@inavx.com ) or PathAway ( support forum) for issues centered on the features and functions of those charting apps; MacENC.com and GPSNavX.com also have help materials on their web site and you may email them for technical support as well. Similarly, OpenCPN has extensive User Manuals and large community of users helping eachother out.

OpenCPN for Windows, MacOS, Linux
  (see notes for OpenCPN for Android at the bottom of this page)

Adapt the instructions below for your operating system. Slight differences are present in how to download charts in Windows vs. MacOS vs Linux

1. If necessary, update OpenCPN to at least verison, 4.8.4 being the required minimum version.

2. Download the Fugawi plugin from the OpenCPN plugins page at:

        https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/plugins/fugawi.html

3. Install the Fugawi plugin, clicking Continue and accepting default install options.
   
   Tip #1: On MacOS, press the Apple command key ⌘ while right-clicking the Fugawi plugin package / installer; and from the right-click context menu, select Open. This should avoid MacOS Gatekeeper from disabling this web downloaded app.
   Tip #2: On Windows, a typical anti-malware security utility may need to be adjusted to un-quarantine the plugin installer and/or permit installation of the plugin. Consult the security utility's Help resources for more information.
   Tip #3: On Linux systems, a get-app command line may be needed for installation. See the generalized Linux plugin help page.

4. Launch OpenCPN.

5. Find the Plugins section...

   • Windows OpenCPN full menu path is Tools | Options | Plugins (or click the Options toolbar icon).

   • MacOS OpenCPN menu is OpenCPN | Preferences | Plugins
     
     

6. Select the Fugawi plugin from the list of all plugins and click the Enable button.
   The button changes to Disable in case you need to do OpenCPN plugin troubleshooting in the future.

7. Click the Charts section and select the Fugawi Charts tab.
   
   

8. Click the Refresh Chart List button.

9. When prompted, login with your Fugawi.com email + password and click OK.

10. A list of all chart subscriptions appears, both new / unactivated and previously downloaded. Select a desired chart subscription sub-titled as Status: Ready for Activation Request.

11. Click the Activate Selected Chartset button.

12. Answer Yes to the prompt confirming activation. Click OK after the activation succeeds.
    
    

13. Click the Install Selected Chartset button.
    
    

14. When prompted, browse to and select any folder on your hard drive used as a general repository of charts. Your hard drive's folder path names will vary.
    The browsing dialog has an option to create a new parent folder for all your charts, if you need it.
    
    In the example illustration below, a Windows computer has a general folder for all OpenCPN charts and, beneath it, a few sub-folders of various chartsets. In Windows OpenCPN, the OpenCPN charts parent folder is selected with a click of the Select Folder button; on MacOS OpenCPN the selection is completed with the Open button.
    
    
     

15. Wait as the chart files download. Click OK when complete.
    
    

16. From the Chart Files tab, select the folder containing the downloaded chart files. The folders are automatically named according to the Fugawi product code -- which you should not edit. However, you may nest a given Fugawi chart folder under another sub-folder with an appropriate name describing the geographic area of the chart product. 
    
    

17. Click Apply. The various charts in the chartset are analyzed by OpenCPN and prepared for a mutli-scale quilted view. This usually takes several seconds, possibly longer depending on the number of chart files,

18. The world base map view represents the new collection of charts with thin red boundaries rectangles / polygons. Pan and zoom as necessary to view the quilted charts at a desirable scale. See the section below for tips on how to get the best view of the charts.

Basics about viewing the charts

An initial chart chosen by OpenCPN appears: it may be a world basemap or a previously viewed chart. Zoom in / out, pan around as desired. If the initial view is red outline rectangles only, use the menu Shift to Smaller Scale Chart (also invoked by the F8 function key) to see the actual chart graphics.

Tip #4 : Depending a chartset's properties, you may find it helpful to increase or decrease how soon a fine detailed local scale chart visually emerges out of a larger area yet lower detail chart. Do this in Tools (Preferences in MacOS) | Display | Advanced | Chart Zoom / Scale Weighting. Or simply press the keyboard letter D to bring the slider control over the current chart. Experiment with the slider setting for each chartset to get what you perceive as the best balance of clarity versus density of chart objects.


Tip #5: The "Chart Piano" control (keyboard toggle: CTRL + B or Apple-logo + B), a thin horizontal strip of buttons representing individual charts along the lower border of screen, may be used for:

• Click selecting a single chart out of the larger collection, with the single chart centered by default.
• Mouse hovering over a button to examine the corresponding chart's informaton: drive storage path, scale ratio, projection 

OpenCPN for Android

The look and operational features of OpenCPN are remarkably similar across the platforms of Android and computer-based OpenCPN installations. However, installing both the OpenCPN software and the Fugawi Charts plugin is line with all typical apps from the Google Play Store. Take note of these points:

• The authentic OpenCPN for Android in the Google Play Store has author name "Dave Register" and has a modest price for purchase. Buy and install this first using the Play Store app on your Android device.
  Additional notes:
  • Fugawi technical support does not provide a walk-through on the basic consumer topic of buying and installing apps. Google has generalized Help references on buying and installing apps.
  • You may perform a side-install from a computer via USB cable but this is generally more complicated, so we recommend using the standard Google Play mechanism for buying, and downloading / installing the app.
  • Do not install free OpenCPN variants for Android because these are not compatible with the Fugawi Charts Plugin.
• The Fugawi Charts Plugin for OpenCPN in the Google Play Store also has author name "Dave Register" and it is free. Install this companion app using the Play Store utility on your Android devce. The sequence is:
  1. In the Play Store's search box, enter the phrase "Fugawi Charts plugin" and examine the appropriate search result.
  2. On the Fugawi Charts Plugin store page, tap Install.
  3. Tap Accept.to confirm what resources the plugin app has access to within your device.
  4. If prompted for payment information or a redeem code, tap Skip.
  5. Wait as the download / install proceeds.
  6. Tap Open.
  7. In the app that launches, tap Install Fugawi Charts Plugin.
  8. After several seconds, OpenCPN is launched with the plugin included. Just like OpenCPN on a computer, enter the Options menu | Plugins, find the Fugawi Charts plugin row and tap the Enable button.
     Tip: On a typical Android smartphone, the Plugins section may be hidden behind and to the right of other software controls and tabs. If you rotate the screen to wide landscape mode, the Plugins should become visible.

► For OpenCPN related questions, study the documentation manuals and/or OpenCPN forums.

► For help with chart selection, purchasing process, and downloads contact charts@fugawi.com. However, it is outside Fugawi's scope of support to offer assistance with OpenCPN display preferences, tool use, data transfers, hardware interfacing, regular navigation and planning operations of the software, etc.

iNavX for iOS and Android

The iNavX instructions for iOS devices are immediately below. The Android edition of iNavX is configured similarly, see the specialized instructions farther below.

These instructions are best viewed on a computer monitor screen as the instructions are followed within the navigation app.

For iNavX 5.1.x or higher on iPad and iPhone

From any charts screen of iNavX, tap Charts in the upper-left corner and then Account.

On the account screen, enter your Fugawi.com account's Email and case sensitive Password.
Tap the Login button and OK to the success prompt.

Help note #1 - if you see the "Forbidden" error... Most likely you need to carefully re-enter the password correctly or create a new easier password. Tip: a reliable, handy password composed of only numbers (0-9) and case-sensitive letters (a-z / A-Z) is best.

The screen refreshes and should go by default to the My Charts tab. (Ignore the Store tab for these purposes.)
Among whatever other charts titles you may have, tap on this nv charts title.

Help note #2 - if this chart title not listed... Go back to Account, log out, re-enter the Fugawi email + password, then login again. This should force the chart title to list under My Charts. Another method: slowly finger drag the "NOAA" gray colored title bar downwards for a few seconds, then release to refresh the screen.
 

The chart list is initially empty. Tap Download Chart List.
Answer Yes to the prompt for updating and Yes to activate the subscription to this one licensed iOS device.

Help note #3 - if you receive and error about not being able to activate the chart subscription or "... unable to retrieve account..." then you need to revised your Fugawi.com password to a string of text without punctuation characters such as & ^ # @ / <, etc.; the password must be at least 8 characters long and should contain only numbers and case-sensitive letters.

From the presented list of named chart regions, tap any one chart you wish to download.
Tap the red Yes button to download only the single selected chart region. Or tap the Yes, All nv charts... option to batch download all charts in the collection.

A percentage indicator shows the progress of the download; a single chart file is typically a few tens of Kilobytes (KB) and so the usual completion time is a matter of seconds. The chart is displayed moments after the indicator gets to 100%.

In the example below, a broad overview chart (ex. English Channel) shows small red rectangles indicating smaller scale charts with more local detail.
You may tap on any rectangle and see the chart's name show in the query result pop-up. Tap that chart name and respond Yes to the prompt to download and view it.

Help-note #4: To prevent the chart from leaping away to your current GPS position (which may be blank, outside the chart's boundaries) tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. Configure the option Pos Icon Loc (position icon at location) to None, which removes the boat icon and auto-centering on GPS location. But when you go back to actively navigating, set this to CTR (center at GPS) to see the boat icon.

Help-note #5: If this chart subscription is expired, the app will be unable to update the charts or re-download them after a device memory reset. You may renew the chart subscription at a reduced price depending on current available discounts and promotions. Or contact charts@fugawi.com for consultation on the status of your subscriptions. 

For iNavX 1.x or higher on Android smartphone or tablet

1. Starting on any chart screen (ex. world map), tap the More options tab ( ... ) in the lower right corner.
   
   
    
2. Tap Account.
   
   
    
3. In the text fields given, enter your Fugawi.com account's E-mail + Password and then tap the Log In button.
   
   
    
4. The account page changes to logged in status and presents any waypoints and routes stored on your Fugawi.com account's cloud storage.
   Return to the iNavX home screen by pressing the back hardware (    ) button.
    
5. Tap the Charts button on the bottom-center of the home screen.
    
6. On the My Charts tab, a list of chart vendor brand-names is given. Select nv charts.
   
   
    
7. Pick this specific subscribed chart title.
    
8. When prompted to activate the subscription for chart downloads, tap Yes.
   
   
    
9. From the list of charts, tap on any single one.
   A dialog lets you select to download only the single chart selected (default choice) or download the entire batch of charts from the currently activated product (choice selected in illustration below). Select as you like then tap Download.
   
   
    
10. As a chart downloads, a clock-wise indicator shows the download progress. When a chart download is complete, tap the check-marked chart name to view it.
    
    Tip: iNavX has an auto-center feature enabled by default; so if you download a chart region far away from your current GPS position, the app purposely "jumps away" from the chart to show whatever it can of your current location (even if that's just the world outline map). To disable auto-center, tap the small gear-wheel icon   in the upper-right of any shown chart, and set Location to the circle-option None.
    
     

PathAway Pro

1. In PathAway Pro, tap the main menu | Maps | Import | Fugawi/X-Traverse Maps.
   If prompted to login, change from the PathAway account to Fugawi/X-Traverse, enter your Email and Password login information (same as your Fugawi.com login) and then tap Login.
2. After a pause for downloading, examine the drop-down list and select this nv charts product title.
   Tip: If No Maps is the only drop-down list item, it may help to do this: tap on the main menu | Settings | My Accounts; tap Logout, re-select Fugawi/X-Traverse as the service, re-enter your account Email and Password, tap Login. Finally, return to Maps | Import and refresh the drop-down list.
3. Tap the Activate Product option and answer Yes to the confirmation prompt.
4. From the fetched list of individual charts, select one.
   Tip: To multi-select, tap the Select button in the lower left corner; then check mark along the right-hand edge all individual charts to be downloaded.
5. A pop-up dialog appears; tap the Download Map option.
6. View any chart by tapping Maps | Custom Maps, select a chart with a check mark beside it and, from the pop-up dialog, tap Show.