HelmStation Online Documentation
HelmStation saves waypoints, routes and tracks as GPX, KML and CSV files, and opens waypoint and route files. It also opens GRIB weather files and ENC chart exchange sets.
| To save | Choose | The file contains |
|---|---|---|
| Waypoints | Waypoints > Transfer > To File | The waypoints listed in the Waypoints window: the selected group, narrowed by any search |
| A route | Routes > Transfer > Selected To File | The route selected in the Routes window, with its waypoints in order |
| Your track | Track > Transfer > To File | Every track record |
Then choose CSV…, GPX… or KML…, name the file and click Export.
You can also drag a group from the Waypoints window, a route from the Routes window, or a record from the Track window to the Finder. HelmStation saves the group, the route or the whole track there as a GPX file.
Choose Transfer > From File… in the Waypoints or Routes menu, pick the file and click Import. HelmStation reads GPX, KML, KMZ and CSV files, and reads any other file as CSV.
See Waypoints, Routes and Tracks.
Use GPX to move your waypoints and routes to another Mac or another navigation app, and to keep a record of your track. HelmStation opens the waypoints and routes it saved in a GPX file.
Mapping apps read KML. HelmStation saves waypoints as placemarks with their names, descriptions and icons, a route as its waypoints plus a line joining them, and the track as a colored line for each segment, with a point at each end.
When HelmStation opens a KML file, points become waypoints, and a line that follows point placemarks in the file becomes a route. A line on its own isn’t imported as a route or a track; HelmStation adds a single waypoint at its first point.
A KMZ file is a KML file compressed as a zip archive. HelmStation opens it the same way as a KML file.
A CSV file is plain text with one item on each line, its fields separated by commas. HelmStation writes no heading row, and reads every line as data.
Waypoints and routes have four fields:
| Name | Latitude | Longitude | Description | | :— | :— | :— | :— |
Latitude and longitude use the Position format chosen in the Units window, both when HelmStation saves and when it opens a file, for example 37°48.50’N. In that format you can type * in place of the degree sign. Opening a file from the Routes menu makes a new route named after the file. See Settings.
The track has eleven fields:
| Date and time | Latitude | Longitude | Course over ground | Speed over ground | Heading | Boat speed | Depth | Wind angle | Wind speed | Description | | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— | :— |
Latitude and longitude are in decimal degrees, negative for south and west. Speeds are in knots and depth in feet, whatever units you have chosen. A field is left empty when there was no data.
HelmStation opens GPX, KML, KMZ and GRIB (.grb) files from the Finder. Control-click the file and choose Open With > HelmStation, or drag it onto HelmStation in the Dock. A GPX, KML or KMZ file brings in its waypoints and routes, as it would from the Waypoints menu. A .grb file opens as a weather forecast.
Choose Weather > Open GRIB… to open a GRIB weather file. HelmStation reads GRIB edition 1 files, often named .grb, that contain wind, pressure, wave, current or temperature data. It doesn’t read GRIB2 files. See Weather.
HelmStation Store and NOAA charts are downloaded and installed for you. See Chart Account and Delivery and NOAA Chart Service.
For third-party ENCs, HelmStation reads ENC exchange sets. Each is a folder whose ENC_ROOT folder holds the catalog, CATALOG.031, and the chart cells with their update files.
Add an exchange set in File > Chart Manager with Add ENC Catalog…, choosing its folder or its CATALOG.031. It must be inside your Documents folder, for example in Documents/Charts/ENC. Add permits with Add ENC Permits…. You can’t open a CATALOG.031 from the Finder. See Chart Manager and Third-Party ENCs.