Choosing the Best Inside Passage Navigation Software

by Bob Duke
© 2009 by Rovert A. Duke

Captain Kyle Among Chicagof Barrier Islands

Just as the best boats are purpose-built, so selection of the best navigation software must be purpose-based.

So how do you choose the “best” navigation software for cruising the Inside Passage?

I had to make that choice recently and though it was for the second time, I found myself adrift in a sea of confusion.  Sorting out the hardware and software, manufacturers’ claims, and the recommendations of fellow boaters was time consuming and complicated.  Maybe I can make your choice easier and less costly. Except for Queen Charlotte Sound and Dixon Entrance, the Inside Passage is coastal waters, where you are continually surrounded by land and the dangers of rocks and shoals.  As long as you stay on the Alaska Marine Highway, you are in well-marked waters with plenty of depth for recreational boats.  As soon as you get off the highway you become an explorer who needs as much navigation information as possible in front of you at all times.

Because raster charts are digital pictures of traditional paper charts they continuously display all of the charted navigation information that exists. Information about bottom contours, composition and features, and buoys, obstructions, hazards and depths are ready for use.

Such is not so with vector charts.  Vector charts consist of “digitized objects” that can be assembled in various ways to create chart-like navigation displays. Yes, the digitized information was taken from paper nautical charts and other sources, but – and this is both the power and weakness of vector charts – the navigator must choose what to display and when to display it.  The vector chart deficiency for shoal water cruising is that needed navigation information may not be available the instant it is required.  Taking this one step further, the novice navigator may not even know the information exists because it is hidden.  The knowledgeable navigator is challenged to find and display information quickly enough to use.

Comparison of vector chart images on a chart plotter and PC with a raster chart on a PC (click photos to enlarge).

Chart Plotter Vector Chart Image of Piehle Passage	PC Vector Chart Image of Piehle Passage	PC Raster Chart Image of Piehle Passage

An additional complication with vector charts is that each chart plotter manufacturer or software developer implements vector charts differently.  Raster charts can be implemented in only one way – as an electronic picture of the original chart.

Vector charts on the other hand can be implemented in endless ways.  What is displayed, and how and when it is displayed differs with each implementer and navigator depending on choices made in organizing, selecting and displaying the digital objects composing a vector chart.

While I prefer raster charts, as do most experienced Inside Passage cruising skippers I have interviewed since 2004, there is a caveat.  Raster charts are implemented only by software that runs on a personal computer (PC) using Microsoft’s Windows operating system.  The combination of raster chart navigation software and the Windows operating system brings out the worst in both, making them unreliable.  Nevertheless, experienced Inside Passage skippers have stayed with PC-based raster charts by taking extreme measures to circumvent problems, including:

• Installing a chart plotter next to the navigation computer and operating it in parallel for backup when the PC inevitably fails.

• Dedicating one PC exclusively to navigation and having a second for general-purpose uses such as downloading photos, playing games and e-mail.  Such skippers usually have a spare third computer.

• Running two PCs simultaneously in two parts of the boat so that when the helm PC fails the backup can be instantly moved to the helm, already up and running.

Shoal Water Obstacle

I used an early version of Nobeltec, first on an IBM laptop PC and then on an HP desktop PC, from 2000 to 2005, on a 34-foot trawler I cruised 6000 miles in the Inside Passage.  The problems were many and severe, and I knew from fellow boaters that not only hadn’t they been solved but, with the release of Microsoft’s Vista, they had worsened.  The The Windows’ “crazy mouse” problem is now a decade old.

Without knowing much about chart plotters and vector charts, I imagined they were better than a PC with Windows and raster chart navigation software. 

I bought a popular chart plotter and installed it on a friend’s charter boat to test it on a 10-day passage from Bellingham, Washington, to Sitka, Alaska.  It was disappointing.  This manufacturer’s implementation of C-Map’s vector charts resulted in a hodgepodge of navigation data that was hard to access and the ergonomics of the hardware made it difficult to operate.

Five charter guests and I used the chart plotter for 10 consecutive days and concluded the hardware and charts were unsatisfactory for navigating the Inside Passage.

When I returned the chart plotter to the manufacturer, along with a critique, the sales manager said, “Anyone who prefers raster charts will never be satisfied with vector charts.”

Kristin Hoelting on Lookout for Unacharted Obstacles

To have the best charts for cruising the Inside Passage I would again need a Windows-equipped PC.  This time I chose Rose Point’s Coastal Explorer and installed it on a Windows XP-equipped PCs especially configured for marine navigation.  Although the Coastal Explorer user’s guide was missing I installed it easily myself.  The software was developed by recreational boaters (not just programmers) for recreational boater and uses the familiar Windows user interface to accomplish navigation functions. Most navigating can be done without leaving the cruising mode screen.  Hopefully, over time this Windows-friendly approach will prove more reliable than other approaches.

I’m in good company in my preference for raster charts.  Of the 20 skippers interviewed for my 2004 book, Cruising to Alaska: Tips & Tactics from 20 Skipper, all of those using electronic charts used raster charts.  Prominent among these Inside Passage skippers are Don Douglass, author of the Exploring series of cruising guides; Tom Selman, charter skipper and cruiser; Jim Kyle, 45-year commercial fisher and charter captain.

In researching this article I looked closely at the following electronic charting hardware and software:

• PC-based Nobeltec’s Admiral Max Pro, Rose Point’s Coastal Explorer, Maptech’s Chart Navigator Pro and Star Technologies’ The Capn. 
  
• CP-based Furuno’s Plotter GD 1920C, Garmin’s GPS Map 5000, Standard Horizon’s CP300, and Raymarine’s C-Series Display which implement vector charts of their own design or under license from independent developers.

I’ve concluded that if you want to go gunkholing among the rocks and shoals of shallow coastal waters, whether it’s the Inside Passage, the Intercoastal Waterway or the Bahamas, raster electronic charts are your best choice for the purpose.

Entry to Tight Anchorage PC/Raster Chart Pros and Cons: With a PC-based electronic navigation system you have tremendous computing power, familiar functions and unlimited monitor size. Vector charts can be used on a PC along with raster charts.  An overlooked benefit is that processing power provides an easily accessed large and searchable Help file. PCs are more expensive and complicated to buy and install. They are not marinized hardware. Raster charts cannot be updated electronically and their data cannot be input to other features and functions.  The Microsoft Window operating system is notoriously difficult and unreliable.  Marine electronics retailers are willing to sell navigation software unless dealer installation on a PC is included at additional cost. Chart Plotter/Vector Charts Pros and Cons: A CP-based electronic navigation system offers low initial cost, easy installation and the high reliability of hardware designed for the marine environment. Clarity and ease of updating are touted advantages of vector charts, but clarity is achieved by eliminating detail.  And while updated charts are important in heavy traffic areas, the natural shoal water hazards of concern to cruisers seldom needs updating. Vector chart implementation is arbitrary. Computing power is limited and so Help files are unavailable.  Limited screen size can be an issue and plotter ergonomics can be poor and counter-intuitive.  Raster charts cannot be run on a chart plotter*. *More powerful chart plotters coming to the market that will also run raster charts, but so far these units are expensive and still lack the computer power of a PC.