CARIS created its original viewer, called EasyENC, so non-CARIS users could display their marine and hydrographic data products. Like its predecessor, Easy View is simply a viewer and not a full-featured navigation package. But it is an incredibly flexible viewer, able to display 18 data formats, including hydrographic data and 3D flight paths. It just so happens that two of these file formats BSB/KAP files and S-57 files-are of great use to recreational boaters. These are the file types associated with nautical charts in raster and vector formats.
CARIS may be the most surprised of all at how recreational boaters have discovered Easy View. Sheri Flanagan, the marketing coordinator at CARIS, estimates an average of 625 people download Easy View each month and that as many as a third of those are recreational boaters.
SETTING UP
Easy View can display the most common chart formats for U.S. boaters, but because it is only a viewer, you must obtain chart files from another source. You can download free raster or vector charts directly from NOAA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offers free vector charts for inland waters known as IENCs (see links below). You can also purchase charts on CD or DVD from commercial sources.
However, there are some files Easy View cannot display. For example, it won't open GEO/NOS chart files, a format used by SoftChart (recently acquired by Maptech), or Admiralty charts in ARCS format, which are popular with offshore cruisers.
Download the free application at www.caris.com/products/easy-view and follow the instructions to load the program. A manual (included as a PDF file with the download) can be found in C:\\CARIS\EasyView\10\Documentation\ CARISEasyViewReferenceGuide.pdf. In order to view and print it, download a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which is available free (see link below).
WORKING WITH CHARTS
Bringing up a chart file is very straightforward in Easy View. After copying your chart files to your hard drive, simply choose "Browse" and select the file you want displayed. Once the chart is displayed, you can zoom and pan over the chart using your mouse (we recommend one with a scrolling wheel, so you can easily zoom in and out). If you open a vector chart, you can hide or show its layers or click on an object to display its attributes.
But that is about the extent of Easy View features for the recreational boater. Once a chart file is opened, you cannot move past the chart image on the screen to display the adjoining chart automatically. Nor can you click on an inset panel for a more detailed display in a larger scale. Easy View simply displays a graphical image. It does not know that chart 11512 adjoins chart 11511 to the south.
Unlike a true navigation program, it also does not automatically select an appropriately scaled chart, such as in the case where there is a small-scale chart and a large-scale chart available for the same area. You need to apply this intelligence, opening each chart file manually after figuring out the level of detail you want to see.
CARISEasy View displays vector charts in the standard S-57 format. Each chart object has an associated attribute list in the database. The example used here is the Venetian Causeway Bridge.If you are using free NOAA charts, obtain a copy of the agency's Catalog of Charts & Publications, which displays all the chart regions and their numbers. This publication helps you choose the chart files you wish to view and, more importantly, helps you identify which charts are adjacent as you move through a region. These free brochures are available at any marine store that sells NOAA paper charts.
Because Easy View is not designed as a navigation program, it also does not connect to your vessel's electronics, such as a GPS sensor. You can view charts for planning but cannot show your vessel's position or create waypoints, markers, routes or tracks.
Although there is a manual for Easy View, we found it was not particularly helpful. Easy View was not created for boaters, so the manual covers many non-boating features and focuses more heavily on Computer-Aided Design (CAD) users. Unless you are an engineer, it is not very intuitive.
The company does offer support via email and was very responsive to our requests in writing this review. However, because CARIS provides this viewer as a freebie to large government agency customers, it would be unfair to pester them with your common PC problems. A better approach is to think of Easy View as a tinkerer's solution to free chart viewing and try to solve problems on your own.
ASSESSMENT
Because Easy View was created as a service to CARIS customers-not specifically for recreational boaters-it doesn't have many features boaters need. In many ways, it is a "look but don't touch" program: you can display nearly any kind of mapping or charting file, but you cannot add to the displays to incorporate any vessel information.
