Maptech is an established charting and navigation company, with a product portfolio that includes printed paper chartkits, cruising guides, digital charts on CD, and charting and navigation software. In fact, Maptech has so many offerings–including many with overlapping names and features–that it is sometimes difficult to keep it all straight.

Here, however, we keep it simple: reviewing only Chart Navigator Pro, which Maptech markets as its full-featured flagship navigation software package for recreational boaters. As we mentioned before, Chart Navigator Pro is a branded version of Coastal Explorer, developed by Rose Point Navigation (for a review of Coastal Explorer, see link below).

Rose Point benefits from this arrangement because Maptech's stronger marketing presence and distribution reach allow them to sell more retail copies. Maptech adds value by including 15 DVDs full of data resources – including extensive chart coverage and extras such as 3D contour maps, shoreline topographic maps, aerial photos and satellite images – and then charges $100 more.

The result is Chart Navigator Pro ($499), an application that takes Rose Point's extraordinarily stable program and marries it with Maptech's extensive charting resources to produce a full-featured package that will work well both for serious weekend boaters and long-distance cruisers.

GETTING STARTED

Because Chart Navigator Pro and Coastal Explorer were born of the same parents, much of what we highlighted in our review of Coastal Explorer also applies here. Good features are good features. But there are some substantial differences, and we have tried to point those out.

Chart Navigator Pro is sold in a boxed set that includes an installation DVD for the software, a 20-page Getting Started Guide, and 15 DVDs of additional information. Boaters who already use Maptech's chart CDs, chartkits, or guides will find these sets familiar. The DVDs even include coverage for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In addition, all raster charts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Maptech's BSB3 file format are included, as well as all available S-57 ENC and IENC vector charts from NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The data libraries also include Maptech's navigation photos, shoreline topographic maps, and contour 3D charts for the entire U.S. coastline.

In some of our previous software reviews, we detailed a long list of the items "you'll also need." This is not the case with Chart Navigator Pro. When they say, "Everything you need in one box," they're not exaggerating. Because all the digital charts and additional databases are contained in the stack of DVDs, you truly are all set for U.S. cruising.

However, if you are cruising internationally, including Canada, the Bahamas or Mexico, you must purchase your own digital charts. Maptech sells international digital charts on CD for most regions of the world. Canadian charts may also be purchased directly from the Canadian Hydrographic Service or from private sources such as NDI (see links below).

MAPTECHBoth Coastal Explorer and Chart Navigator Pro scan communication ports to auto-detect your GPS sensor.

If you want to display your boat's movement on your PC without wiring into your vessel's electronics, you need an external GPS sensor. These small devices connect to your computer through your serial or USB port and cost about $100.

LOOK AND FEEL

You don't need to be a computer geek to install Chart Navigator Pro. Installation was trouble-free. The software and data loaded immediately. A GPS wizard scanned the ports, found the GPS device and automatically assigned a communication port (see photo).

The program's default is to automatically load all the extra data. If you want to manage your storage space or have concerns about your computer's performance, watch the installation prompts and limit what gets loaded. Load the big libraries, such as photos or 3D displays, only if you'll use them and can afford the hard drive space.

Chart Navigator Pro has the cleanest user interface of all the applications we've reviewed so far. We particularly liked the use of "display modes," which kept the screen uncluttered by only displaying necessary tools and information. For example, Planning Mode displays planning tools such as creating routes or getting information from the guide books. Cruising Mode switches to a chartplotter-like display, with windows for instrument and position data.