What do I want for Christmas?

That's easy: navigation software – perfect navigation software. While there are certainly plenty to choose from – Nobeltec, Maptech, Rose Point and more – finding the perfect package is tougher than you might think. Too often, I find myself admiring pieces of many different programs – a cool feature from one application, and a handy widget from another.

The simple truth is that I yearn for a hybrid, a Franken-program that pulls the best components from all these applications into one package of super software that gives me enough "situational awareness" to satisfy the Pentagon and displays everything in a single click.

In the last four months, Mad Mariner has run a weekly series on electronic charting called Hard Facts on Software, now it its 13th installment. As the editor, I have read every single one of these stories several times–roughly 40,000 words of reporting on interfaces, load times, waypoint management and cartography. I'm no expert, but you might say I'm an educated consumer.

So which package is best? I'll leave that to the end-of-series summary, which reporters Mark and Diana Doyle will write in January. What I will say is that I wish there were a piece of navigation software that took large amounts of compromise out of the equation, a market-leading product like Racor or Jabsco that you could simply buy and feel good about.

That may be a tall order, even for Santa. Still, just for fun, here is my wish list of features for that uber e-charting package.

SETUP AND STABILITYRose Point Navigation SystemsCoastal Explorer is a robust program with nice features. Here is shown a split screen with charts, satellite image and Coast Pilot information.

For starters, what we are talking about here is software that will run on a laptop PC that is fitted with a GPS, allowing me to plan trips and navigate using electronic charts.

I would want my program to be downloadable from the company website (along with automated updates). But I would also want the option to buy the actual disk, preferably in a professional-looking case like the one Maptech offers for The Capn–a zippered black portfolio that makes you feel as if you purchased something substantial.

When it comes to function, number one on my list is ease of use. It does not matter what a program can do if you cannot get it started and use it without large hassles. Boating is a recreational activity and good navigation software should enhance that experience, not leave you pounding the screen with frustration.

Rose Point's Coastal Explorer exemplifies what I am looking for. When I first unwrapped Coastal Explorer, it took me just one night to get it loaded and running, and it was so intuitive that I could use it right away with only a few clicks on the Help tab. More than two years later, I am still using this application and it has never once let me down. The program was built from the ground up by former Microsoft engineers. They did not have to worry about building upon older products–what software guys call legacy issues–and the result is some extremely stable software. Mark and Diana went so far as to try to crash it–and they couldn't.

Though I have never used it, Maptech's Chart Navigator Pro is based on the same Rose Point software. It is a bit more expensive because it comes with a heavy load of Maptech goodies, such as charts, satellite imagery and topographic maps. But it should be just as stable.

If I were building the perfect program, it would load–and last–like these two products.JEPPESEN MARINEA 3D Bathymetric screenshot showing the Key West Main Ship Channel approach from the south. The oerfect software package would display all kinds of charts, maps, photos and imagery.

It would also include a little brother. Many software companies produce a "chart viewer," which is a stripped down version of their larger navigation package, either as a trial or as a convenience to users. These viewers are not designed for navigation. Rather, they are created as a handy tool to view charts and plan.

I love these little guys. They start quickly and allow you to take a look at a chart without launching your big program and plugging in a GPS. It's a convenience, and a nice one. My perfect application would have a companion viewer–and that viewer would be a lot like CARIS Easy View. This little program downloads quickly, reads most common chart formats and is very easy to use. One of the occupational hazards associated with editing a boating magazine is that I often need to look at some obscure chart. I keep a copy of Easy View on a USB drive for just this reason. Why not–the program is free.

Another item high on my list is technical support–fanatical technical support. Too many companies fall short in this department. My ultimate piece of software would have the ultimate help desk, available by chat, email and phone. It would also have serious online resources, including a well-written FAQ, downloadable PDF guides and a forum to allow me to communicate with other users. And yes, I'd like a printed manual too–a thick one.

LOOK AND FEELMARK AND DIANA DOYLENavimaQ's unique Spyglass function magnifies difficult-to-read chart information without distortion.

Another thing I want is an interface that takes the mission into account. These programs are used on a boat, not in an office. The user is often standing up and rocking back and forth (at least that's how it is aboard my trawler–and it doesn't even heel). Tiny menus and buttons, cluttered screens that obscure the chart and anything that requires precision mousing is a major pain in the transom.

It is for this reason that I think TIKI Navigator Pro is on the right track. It was created by Fred Jenssen, a Norwegian boater, who decided to pitch some of the standard Windows conventions out the portal in favor of an interface that is designed for boaters. The result is a program that is reasonably intuitive, with a nice clean interface that puts a premium on chart display. The different interface does require some adjustment, but the direction is right minded.

Another characteristic I like is the ability to customize things: windows, toolbars, consoles–everything. One of my major complaints about software of all kinds is that too many programs force us–the users–to work in ways that don't make sense to us. The ability to customize things goes a long way toward making any application more comfortable to use.

Mark and Diana gave Nobeltec Visual Navigation Suite high marks in this regard. In fact, they counted 89 toolbar button and 41 counsel panel choices, all of which can be saved. In fact, the program will save multiple configurations for different helmsmen, vessels or situations (fishing, for example). All software should be so kind to its users.

TIKI and Nobeltec are not the only products with some nice features in the interface department. Raymarine's RayTech RNS uses tabs on the bottom of the screen that are similar to a Microsoft Excel Worksheet–a handy, familiar convention. Very nice.

RayTech, along with Coastal Explorer and Chart Navigator Pro, also place readouts for distance and bearing right on the chart, annotated on your course line just like you would write them on a paper chart. Again, very nice.

One of the best small touches around can be found on Barco Software's NavimaQ, a program for Apple users. The "spyglass" is a widget that acts as a chart magnifier. Drag the Spyglass icon over the chart and it magnifies an area, making it easier to read tiny annotations. Great concept.

WORKING WITH CHARTSTIKITIKI Navigator Pro's BuddyTracking system shows AIS targets (blue), buddy boats (green), and your vessel (red) in the main chart display. It even allows you to keep track of buddy boats off your chart in a separate window (bottom center).

As anybody reading this series knows, electronic charts come in many different formats: raster and vector charts are available from more than a dozen government agencies and commercial companies, both for U.S. waters and those abroad. There are also additional "assets," including aerial photographs, satellite images, topographic maps, bathymetric charts and street maps.

My fantasy package would read them all–and add to that support for premium cartography, like the ability to view Nobeltec's World Chart Portfolio or cartridges from Navionics and C-Map through a fast USB reader. Like most captains, I already have a library of charts, including a DVD of all available U.S. vector and raster charts from NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a handful of Navionics Platinum cartridges that cost a few hundred dollars each. Nobody wants to lose the stash they have. I'll want to be able to use my library when I switch to my new ultimate system.

Therefore, my new system would give me maximum flexibility to view what is already on my boat and whatever else I can get my hands on. And, in fact, there are some products that come close to this type of capability. Fugawi Marine ENC reads so many different chart formats that Mark and Diana likened it to a Swiss Army Knife. CARIS Easy View, the free chart viewer, reads 18 different formats. And Chart Navigator Pro comes with no fewer than 15 DVDs filled with charts and other assets. So I know it can be done.

Of course, if I am going to have all these charts, my new software package will have to have the ability to manage them well. The truth is that I am not a full-time cruiser–that's tough when you have children ages 1 and 3–but I do go boating on both the east and west coast every year.

My boat is on the Chesapeake Bay, where I roam throughout the season. My family lives in Southern California, and I make several trips a year up and down the coast, from San Diego to San Francisco. When I take these trips, I bring some paper charts, a hand-held GPS–and my laptop.

It would be nice if my ultimate software package let me sort my charts into folders for the Chesapeake and the California coast, so that I could load and unload the charts that I need and keep my computer running fast. Indeed, there are products out there that facilitate this system. A Mac program by GPSNavX called MacENC, uses a directory-based Chart Manager that makes it easy to load charts from anywhere on your hard drive.

While I'm wishing, I'd also ask that my ultimate program make great use of search, as Coastal Explorer does. I want to be able to type in a location and bring up a chart and Coastal Explorer is good at this. I have stumped it a few times, but not many.

Of course, my new package should also manage the waypoints, tracks and marks that I have collected over the seasons. I'm not one of these guys that has thousands of waypoints and tracks–I suspect most folks don't–but I do have my collection for the areas that matter to me, including a broad swath of the Chesapeake, as well as the Severn, Chester, Choptank and Potomac rivers.

My package would allow me to place these in folders too, and to drag and sort them as I see fit. It would also support GPX technology, so that I could freely import and export these little jewels between programs and machines (I have traditional plotters onboard, and a small collection of hand-held devices and a lot of boating friends).

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Of course, the ultimate software application would support GRIB weather downloads and give me tide and current information, without having to download some additional program.

It would also integrate with a wide variety of hardware, including GPS, AIS, Radar, weather instrumentation and sensors of all kinds. Integrating these instruments–often a major headache–would be easily accomplished with elegant wizards to guide me through it.Fugawi; Northpoint SystemsFugawi Marine ENC's Google earth plug-in show chart and satellite image side-by-side, helping define a poorly-marked Bahamian channel.

My program would use this hardware in traditional ways, such as radar overlay with alarm capabilities. But it would also add innovative functions, the way TIKI Navigator Pro did when it added its BuddyTracking feature. BuddyTracking leverages the program's AIS capabilities and allows the user to track specific boats–your buddies–whether they are on your chart or another. Very cool.

I would also want a really good trip calculator that allowed me to plot arrival times and other useful information for a trip, then reverse it for the journey home. The Capn does that. And, because I'm a power boat guy, I'd want a fuel calculator like the one in NavSim's BoatCruiser, which takes some basic pieces of information and does the math for you.

And finally, my ultimate program would give me a little bit of raw cool–something like Fugawi Marine ENC's integration with Google Earth. For the uninitiated, Google Earth is a free web application that provides access to satellite imagery worldwide. The images vary in quality and they are not viewed in real time, but the interface is exquisite. In minutes, I was able to zoom in tight enough on my back yard to see that, at the time the image was shot, my nanny was double parked.

Fugawi Marine ENC harnessed Google's free technology with a plug-in that allows users to download a satellite image of their current location. The program allows you to view images next to a chart on a split screen, save the images on your hard drive–even upload waypoints and routes to Google Earth with a single click. Raw cool.

ASSESSMENT

Of course, all of this is just for fun, a romp through the products we have reviewed so far that touches on some of the highlights. You can read the reviews for specifics. It's all there, and there are more to come in January.

It may also get you thinking about your own list of needs which, though it will certainly be less greedy than this fanciful sleigh ride, is an important first step to buying software.

Like Santa himself, there is no ultimate piece of software. As with most things on a boat–or even the boat itself–making a purchase involves a series of compromises. You can spend $150 or $1,500, and you still won't have every single feature you want. But there are many products on both sides of that spectrum that will get the job done well.

And there is another consideration: These programs are getting better at an amazing clip. Fifteen years ago, most of us were working on machines with 20 megabytes of disk space and no Internet connection. Only well-funded racing teams and commercial captains had anything that resembled a PC onboard. Now, we count storage space in the hundreds of gigabytes, transmit over broadband and onboard computers are routine. We also have more than a dozen full-featured navigation applications to choose from.

With each small upgrade–and some of these software companies are improving their applications monthly–these navigation programs are getting better. What will they look like 15 years from now? I'm not sure any of us can answer that. But it is fun to think about–especially at Christmas.

Glen Justice is the Editor of Mad Mariner