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Old 02-24-2011, 11:41 PM   #2
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
City: -
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Track Up or North Up?

We run with our plotters all set to north up since that's the way paper charts are oriented and we're used to using paper charts in both the boat and the plane.

However we will on occasion set the plotter in the Furuno NavNet to course up and split screen it with the radar. While the orientation between the two is not exact it's close enough to help us determine if a target is a navaid or another vessel if we haven't been able to determine that when the plotter is in north up and the radar display is aligned with the centerline of the boat. The stand-alone plotters are always kept in north up. Neither I nor my wife have any problem interpreting the plotter chart display "backwards" if we are heading on a southerly heading, but both of us used charts for many years before using a plotter. Other people prefer the course-up orientation because the display then matches what they see out the windshield.

It's a matter of personal preference and what one person sees as an advantage another person may see as a disadvantage.* So I think the plotter display should be set to whichever orientation makes it the easiest and most intuitive for the individual to interpret quickly and clearly.

-- Edited by Marin on Friday 25th of February 2011 01:45:02 AM
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