Features & Choosing a Program
Screenshot of Visual Navigation Suite with features labeled and highlighted. Most high-end programs available today will do an excellent job of the basics—displaying charts, plotting a vessel's position, and providing the ability to create routes and waypoints. Beyond this, modern programs offer a potpourri of features. Many features look nice at the boat show, but aren't much use on the water. Other features are excellent and make the program a joy to use.

Integrated tides and currents data is exceptionally useful for trip and anchorage planning. Overlaid current arrows and tide-bars make it simple to identify tide or current stations based on visual location, versus a listing in an almanac. Predictions last decades, so you won't need to buy updated tide/current tables every year. The tides and current portion of many programs offers features such as print outs, phases of the moon, sunrise/sunset, search facilities and more. As mentioned before, chart quilting is a very useful feature. Rather than having to choose which charts to open and close, the program stitches charts into a continuous quilt, minimizing the manual selections you need to make. The ability to print charts or route plans is a great feature for creating low-cost backup charts, or primary charts if you don't bring your computer on the boat. For many people, the ability to upload and download routes and marks to a GPS is a key feature. Unlike real-time navigation, which relies on the industry standard NMEA 0183 language, upload/download protocols are proprietary. If this is critical feature, make sure the program you are interested in supports the ability to upload/download with your GPS before you buy.

Beyond features, there are many other factors that you should take into account before choosing a program. Speed and responsiveness of the program is a consideration. When using a program for planning, one tends to zoom and scroll a lot and waiting for a program to respond can be tedious. Usability and so-called "user-friendliness" should also be taken into account when choosing a program. Stability is also a critical consideration. The flashiest program in the world is no good if it crashes and is unreliable. Chart support may also be an important factor for your decision. Some programs support charts made by many different manufacturers, others only support their own charts. Last, the level of customer support a vendor will provide is key if and when things go wrong.

While these factors are harder to quantify than specific features, many of these latter attributes will have a greater impact on your level of satisfaction with your program. You can evaluate some of these factors (speed, usability, and stability) by experimenting with demo versions the manufacturers offer. Put the demo version to the test by trying typical operations on your computer of choice—zooming, scrolling, opening charts, creating routes and marks. Factors like customer support and stability are most difficult to assess. Ask around the dock and/or yacht club and see what experiences others have had.

Thank you for taking the time to read Navigation Software & Electronic Charting. Selecting "Next Chapter" or "Back to Introduction" below will bring you back to the first chapter of this article. If you found this article useful, you might also enjoy Visual Navigation Suite After 4000 Miles. Visual Navigation Suite After 4000 Miles is an article specifically about that program, and is complimentary to to this article. Feel free to browse the other sailing resources at our web site, subscribe to our free email newsletter, or go back to our home page.



[Back to Introduction]





Previous Chapter ||| Subscribe ||| Next Chapter


TGW.NET is property of Tim Whelan. All pictures and text ©Tim Whelan 1980–2002, all rights reserved. Only permitted images and material may be downloaded from this web site. For useage, please see my copyright notice.