Touch screen navigation
Touch screen technology has transformed everyday life and now, according to Norwegian e-navigation specialist Navtor, it is set to revolutionise operations onboard busy vessel bridges too. Navtor have just launched NavStation, which the company claims to be the world’s first ‘Digital Chart Table’ and a breakthrough in bridge-based decision making tools.
NavStation combines unique software with an optional 46inch ‘gigapad’ touch device, giving navigators an intuitive and user-friendly interface to plan optimal vessel routes. The software gathers and overlays all the data navigators require – including ENCs, weather data, tidal information, digital publications, and other services like piracy updates – on a single screen for the very first time. Users can then grab, swipe and manoeuvre the layers on the giant touch pad to unlock a new e-navigation reality.
Navtor’s business manager Willy Zeiler told Maritime Journal: “NavStation signifies a giant leap in the evolution of e-navigation and is exactly what busy navigators have been dreaming of. So much information is available, and compulsory, today, but managing it is time-consuming, impractical and tiring. Our software integrates everything into one place, meaning navigators no longer have to race around the bridge – from one software to another, from maritime publications and paper charts to ECDIS, from console to console. Hence they can concentrate on what’s really important; optimal navigation.
The NavStation software, which also operates on standard computers, utilises Navtor’s market leading ENC service as its ‘base layer’. Subscribers can then add and integrate additional Navtor e-navigation products and services, including weather overlay, all Admiralty’s digital products and publications, as well as services like piracy or iceberg updates.
It is, Zeiler says, a complete navigation package rooted in the principle of “simplifying complicated tasks and producing better results.”
The NavStation software has been in development for the past year, with a series of successful trial installations undertaken with shipowners based in Norway.
By Jake Frith
