Captain Ed has been using Electronic Navigation Programs since 1996 when he purchased the Navtrek Program that had just been released on floppy disks (remember those little things that you stuffed into the side of your computer which stored a BIG 144 kB, or is that pre-history for you?). Since then he has used many other programs for use with PCs as well as stand alone systems.
An absolute disqualification of any charting program is a limited number of restores for yourself in the event of a crash or computer replacement. Some well-known charting program only allows a limited number of restores. Captain Ed says stay away from that rip-off.
Here is a checklist of BB (Before Bloat) items he looks for in a charting program. After a few hours of viewing charts under difficult conditions (think of a dark night, off-shore, bouncing on pitching seas, trying to scroll the chart to match the land mass you see on your radar, then re-centering the chart back on the boat and its track), his Feature choices are highlighted in color.
Charting Program Features
1. Platform: WindowsXP/ Mac/ Linux
2. Charts: RNC (free NOAA) / ENC (free NOAA)/ C-Map/ Other
3. Quilting/Stitching of Charts: Auto/ Manual
4. Auto Scroll on Route: Yes/ No
5. Size of Chart to Screen: 80%+/ 60-80%/ <60%
6. Routes Made by: Click on Chart/ Lat-Lon Entry/ Other
Line: Solid/ Dashed Line/ Other
Thickness Available (Thick)
Colors Available (Red)
How are Waypoints Added/ Removed (By Cursor)
How are Routes Moved or Adjusted (By Cursor)
Display: All or Selected Routes
7. Waypoints: Symbols Available (Several Different Ones)
Colors Available (Pinkish)
Range Circles (3-5 at 50 ft interval for anchor watch )
Display: All/ Selected
8. Tracks Types: Solid/ Dashed Line/ Other
Thickness (Thick)
Colors Available (Dark Green)
9. Tide: Graph/ # and Location on Chart (Either)
10. Current: Graph/ Arrow+Length or Thickness or # (Either)
Display
Must Have
1. GPS Status
2. Boat Lat/Lon
3. Speed Over Ground (SOG)
4. Course Over Ground (COG)
5. Waypoint (WP) Range
6. WP
Bearing
7. Cross Track Error (XTE)
8.
WP Lat/Lon (May use Cursor Display)
Desireable
1. Trip Odometer
2. Time to Go (TTG) to WP
3. Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) to WP
Nice to Have
1. Time to Destination
2. Distance to Destination
3. Range Circles on Boat
Required Single Button Keys
1. Man Overboard (MOB) with GO TO POSITION
2. Center on Boat
3. Look Ahead of Boat (More Route showing ahead of Boat)
4. North Up/ Course Up
5. Zoom In
6. Zoom Out
7. Create Mark
8. Scroll Up/Down/Left/Right (Preferably using Arrow Keys)
To Be Done with Cursor
1. Create Route
2. Go To (Lat-Lon Entry from Keyboard)
3. Show Current and Tides
4. Range+Bearing (In Cursor Box?) from Boat to Cursor Position
5. Range+Bearing (In Cursor Box?) from Point to Point
6. Move Chart to Cursor PositionWaypoint