Maps and Charts

Maps & Charts

BoatOS uses two kinds of map data, and it helps to keep them apart:

1. Offline base maps — the OpenStreetMap/OpenSeaMap world, stored locally as .mbtiles. This is what the image ships with for Germany, and what you extend for other regions.
2. Official inland charts (IENC) — the electronic charts from the German waterways authority via ELWIS. The same charts professional inland shipping uses. (Part of the v1.8 / beta channel.)

---

Offline base maps

The ready-made image already contains map data for Germany. To add other regions, use the BoatOS MBTiles Creator, a standalone Windows tool — no Python, no terminal.

• Download the MBTiles Creator (bundled with every release)
• Run it — Java (planetiler) downloads automatically on first start
• Pick a region from 60+ options (all German states, Scandinavia, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia …)
• Enter your BoatOS IP and let it create & upload directly to the Pi

BoatOS holds several regions at once — upload multiple .mbtiles files and switch between them in Deck. Since v1.7 the routing graph follows the region: change the map, and routes are calculated on that region's waterways.

If you save the .mbtiles manually instead of uploading directly, load it via Deck → Settings → Maps → Upload.

Detailed docs: docs/tileserver.md.

---

Official inland charts (IENC) — beta channel

Beyond the OpenStreetMap base maps, BoatOS can use the official Inland ENC published by the WSV via ELWIS. They're free, and they're the real thing.

This is part of the v1.8 line. Switch the update channel to beta under Settings → System to get it. See Home for the channels.

Getting them onto the boat:

1. Open Settings → Charts in Deck and press Load catalogue — BoatOS reads the ELWIS catalogue and lists the available chart cells.
2. Tick the waterways you sail and start the download; it runs as a background job with progress, so you can keep using the chart.
3. The S-57 cells are converted to vector tiles on the Pi — nothing leaves your boat, and no desktop GIS is needed.
4. The catalogue is cached, so a temporary ELWIS outage doesn't block you.

What appears on the chart: depth areas and the fairway boundary; bridges, weirs and overhead cables with clearance heights; inland traffic signs (CEVNI), buoyage and beacons, kilometre marks. Click any object for its chart attributes — in Deck and in Helm.

Coverage: ELWIS covers the German federal waterways. Outside Germany, BoatOS falls back to the OpenStreetMap/OpenSeaMap layers above.

---

Route hazard check

With IENC charts installed, every calculated route is checked against the chart data. Enter your height and draft once under Settings → Boat; BoatOS then flags bridges you don't fit under, shallows below your draft — corrected by the live water level — and weirs. Warnings appear as markers on the chart plus a list you can step through.

---

Terms like IENC, S-57, CEVNI or MBTiles explained: Glossary.