If you have been building up a large collection of charts and have decided to "clean house" you might have noticed that Coastal Explorer does not have a way to delete the charts you no longer want. We have received several requests for this ability and are planning to add it in an update later this year. In the mean time, here are some guidelines so you can do it yourself.
This article assumes that you already know how to find and delete files using Windows. If that is not the case, we recommend that you do not try to do this because a simple mistake could really mess up your computer!
How Coastal Explorer Finds and Installs Charts
First it is important to understand how Coastal Explorer "installs" charts. Coastal Explorer can find and use charts that are already on your hard drive without "installing" them. We only use the term "install" to mean that Coastal Explorer is copying the charts from a CD-ROM or some other removable storage device or a network to a hard drive on your computer. Charts that are already on a hard drive are "added to your chart portfolio" which only means that the location of the files that have already been installed is noted in a database.
This means that you can use other programs to install charts and Coastal Explorer will be able to use those charts without making another copy. This is an important ability because some charts have copy protection schemes that require them to be "installed" (and unlocked) by software provided by the chart manufacturer. You might also have charts already on your computer that were installed by some other navigation software, and Coastal Explorer can use those charts without making another copy.
You can see (and change) where Coastal Explorer will look for charts by using Tools > Options > Charts > Chart Folders. Each of the folders in this list is scanned for charts when Coastal Explorer is started or after some new charts are installed. The list of charts found in these folders is compared to the chart portfolio database that was updated the last time you used Coastal Explorer and any changes are dealt with. This is what is happening when you see the "Updating Chart Portfolio" message.
Three different kinds of changes might occur in your chart folders: 1) new chart files are found, 2) existing chart files have been updated, and 3) chart files are missing. Coastal Explorer will add the new charts to the database, update the records for any charts that have been changes, and delete records for charts that are no longer on the computer. (If you move a chart from one folder to another, Coastal Explorer treats this as a chart being deleted from one place and a new chart added to another.)
Some of the folders that Coastal Explorer scans for charts will be on a hard drive and those charts are left where they are because they have already been "installed." Some of the folders might be on CD-ROM drives, however, and when Coastal Explorer find charts on a CD-ROM drive, it will look for the same chart on a hard drive. When charts are found on a CD-ROM, but not on a hard drive, Coastal Explorer will ask you if you want to copy them to a hard drive to increase performance. When you say "Yes", Coastal Explorer will install the charts. If you say "No", you can still use the charts as long as the CD-ROM is in the drive, but they will not show up as quickly because CD-ROM drives are much slower than hard drives.
Different types of charts are made up of different types of files and each type has some different requirements for how they are installed. A setting for each type of chart is available in Coastal Explorer that lets you control where on your computer charts will be installed when Coastal Explorer is used to install them. These settings can be found in Tools > Options > Charts > Install Charts > Change Chart Installation Folders.
The following sections describe some of the differences between how the most popular chart formats are installed and how they should be removed. Make sure you exit Coastal Explorer before deleting any chart files, or you will probably find that Windows cannot delete the files because they are in use!
S-57 ENC
Each S-57 ENC is usually kept in its own folder. The folder has a name that matches the "number" or ID of the chart. The one or more files that make up the ENC are inside that folder. Typically you will find at least one file that has a type of "000" and has a name that is the ID of the chart, but the folder might also contain files with other numeric types, text files containing chart notes, and even picture files showing bridges or other navigation hazards.
The folders that contain an ENC are typically stored in a folder called "ENC_ROOT" and that folder can be anywhere on your computer. Coastal Explorer normally keeps it inside the "C:\Charts" folder, but you can put it anywhere you want using the Change Chart Installation Folders option.
To remove an ENC from your computer, simply delete the folder that contains its files. For example, if you want to delete the US5PR54M chart, find the folder called US5PR54M and delete it using Windows.
BSB Format Raster Charts
A BSB chart, such as most charts from Maptech and NDI, is made up of two or more files. One of the files has the chart number for a name and a type of "BSB" and the other files have the chart number followed by an underscore ("_") and another number for a name and a type of "KAP". The BSB file contains general information about the original chart and the KAP files contain the images of each "panel" of the chart. Typically, the first KAP file is an image of the main part of the chart and any other KAP files are images of insets.
Maptech owns the BSB file format and their software normally stores BSB charts in the "C:\CHARTKIT\BSBCHART" folder, so this is also the default location that Coastal Explorer uses. The BSBCHART folder typically contains all of the BSB and KAP files that make up all of your charts; sub-folders are not normally used.
Some BSB charts (version's 4 and 5) have a copy protection mechanism that requires you to contact their manufacturer (usually Maptech or NDI) in order to "unlock" the charts before you can use them. We recommend that you use the chart installation program found on the CD-ROM for those charts to install them as it will make the unlocking process go more smoothly. If you decide to remove these charts at some point, keep in mind that you might have to unlock them again later, and this might be a problem if you don't have a way of contacting the manufacturer! The "keys" that unlock the charts are typically stored in the "C:\CHARTKIT\Encryption" folder and if you don't mess with that folder, you should be able to copy the files from the CD-ROM back to their original folder on your hard drive without unlocking them again, but you might be stuck without chart if something goes wrong.
Some other navigation programs install BSB charts "incorrectly" and do not copy the BSB files. They do this because all of the information necessary to display the chart image is kept in the KAP files and displaying the KAP file is all these programs do. Coastal Explorer uses the information that is in the BSB file in order to show Raster Chart Note Links, so you'll need those files too in order to enable that feature on the Format menu. If you receive a message when Coastal Explorer is started about how "One or more improperly installed BSB chart files were found", it means that KAP files were found, but the BSB files that go with them were not. You can fix this problem by re-installing the charts or by copying the BSB files from the original CD-ROM to the same folder that contains the KAP files.
To remove a BSB chart from your computer, find the files that make up the chart and delete them. For example, to delete chart 50, delete the files "50.BSB", "50_1.KAP", and "50_2.KAP".
Softchart (NOS/GEO) Raster and Photo Charts
Raster and photo charts from Softchart International are usually made up of two files, each of which has a name that starts with the chart number that might be followed by a letter or number indicating that the original chart has multiple panels. One of the files has a type of NOS and the other has a type of GEO.
Softchart's software typically stores raster charts in the "C:\SOFTCHT" folder and photo charts in the "C:\PHOTOCHT" folder. Coastal Explorer will install charts in these folders by default as well.
To remove a Softchart raster chart from your computer, find the files that make up the chart and delete them. For example, to delete chart 108, delete the files "108.GEO" and "108.NOS".
How to Find a Chart's Files
If you want to delete a chart, but can't find it in one of the "normal" places, you can use Coastal Explorer's Chart Portfolio to find out where the chart is stored. Begin by using Tools > Chart Portfolio to display a list of your charts (select View > Details if you see chart thumbnails or chart outlines instead of the list). Next, find the chart you want to delete in the list. Now scroll the list to the right and you should see another column which shows the folders each chart is in.
Another way to find a chart is to use the Windows Search command. Just click on the Start menu and then on the Search option. Next click on the All files and folders option and enter the chart number in the box labeled All or part of the file name. Finally, click Search and Windows will start searching your computer for files that match that chart number. Once Windows has found the right files, you can delete them from within the Search Results window.