When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began converting its paper nautical charts to electronic formats more than a decade ago, many boaters were quick to see the possibilities. A full complement of NOAA's paper charts represented an expensive necessity for prudent navigators, but if NOAA offered those same charts as free downloads, navigation suddenly might become easier and much less costly.
Today, NOAA offers free NOAA charts with a choice between raster or vector (ENC) formats. But boaters still need a way to view those charts. NOAA itself offers an online chart viewer along with a chart catalog that makes it possible to search via GPS coordinates. However, the NOAA chart viewer does not provide any navigation functions, and only works if an Internet connection is available.
Therefore, boaters who want to use the free NOAA charts will need marine navigation software to display those charts. It's possible to download one or more free full-featured marine navigation programs online, or to choose to try a demonstration version of more costly marine navigation software.
Full-Featured Packages Often Use NOAA Raster Charts
NOAA's downloadable charts come in two formats: raster charts and electronic navigation charts (ENCs).
Raster charts, which are simply digital pictures of NOAA's standard marine charts, have some inherent disadvantages when used for electronic marine navigation: the data "printed" on the chart does not change size as the chart zoom level changes, making it difficult to read depths, light characteristics, and other information when the user zooms in or out too far.
ENCs, meanwhile, are vector charts built out of electronic data sets. They offer tides, currents, and the ability to suppress or show data sets, such as light characteristics and depths.
Generally speaking, free marine navigation software packages that offer more features use raster charts, although some also will work with ENC charts. For example:
- SeaClear (http://www.sping.com/seaclear/) offers free marine navigation software with full-featured navigation functions, such as unlimited waypoints, route plotting, and the ability to turn tracks into routes. The software, created by a boater, uses raster charts and has developed a strong following in the boater community.
- Rose Point Navigation Systems (http://rosepointnav.com) offers a trial version of its Coastal Explorer software, with several limitations: the weather and tide functions can only be used for 10 days, the interface with other electronics will only work for the first 15 minutes of any session, and no charts are included (users can download raster charts separately). The full package costs $399.00.
- Polar Navy (http://www.polarnavy.com) provides free route planning software that uses both raster and ENC charts in its PolarView chart viewing software. Boaters who want to add "live" functions such as current GPS display, weather overlay, and input from the boat's other instruments can purchase a license to use PolarView NS for $33.00, plus an additional $12.00 if they want to include AIS ship location data to plot nearby ships.
- Global Navigation Software Co. (http://www.globalnav.com) products can use both raster and ENC charts, or charts downloaded by the user. The demo program offered is a working version of the software's professional edition with all features save the GPS plotting feature enabled. GlobalNav software packages start at $119.
Demo Marine Navigation Software Often Limited
Other marine navigation software manufacturers use NOAA ENC charts, but many offer only a limited-function demo version of their retail software; these packages may work only as a chart viewer, or for a limited time, or include just one sample chart that's based on a NOAA chart but has been altered to work with that specific program. For example:
- Fugawi (http://www.fugari.com) offers a free chart viewer for ENC charts with few navigational functions, plus a 10-day free demo version of its Marine ENC software, which can use many types of vector and raster marine charts. The full version of Fugawi's Marine ENC program includes the ability to show ship location data from an AIS device on the chart, or to layer weather details on top of the chart. Fugawi Marine ENC lists for $279.00.
- Maptech (http://www.maptechnavigation.com), which sells several marine navigation products, offers Chart Navigator Viewer, which the company says serves as a demonstration version of the other Maptech products. The software is available in five languages and comes with a single NOAA raster chart. Full-featured versions of Maptech's navigation software start at $99.00.
- GPSNavX (http://www.gpsnavx.com) also offers a demo version of its full-featured software, which comes with a single chart. In this demo version, boaters cannot save their waypoints, routes, and track history. The full version of the GPSNavX software, which uses raster charts, costs $59.95.
For a boater with both the time and the hard drive space, free and demonstration versions of marine navigation software provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate each package to see which one might work best under what circumstances.
Jane Anderson - Jane M. Anderson spends as much time as possible on the water, working and sailing on boats. She grew up sailing Sunfish and Rhodes 19s on ...
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