PolarView NS

Despite the fact that you have many different and equally exciting options when it comes to planning your vacation, traveling in your personal boat is one way to transform a plain holiday into an interesting or unforgettable experience.

PolarView NS is a comprehensive application that enables you to create your next marine trip accounting for everything from the passages and ports to the tides and weather.

While it does not use Google or other real-scale maps, the interface is quite interesting and includes numerous features that are well-organized and easy to understand. Although the map appears basic, when you zoom in you can notice that it comes with the complete geographic information you can use when planning a cruise.

On a side note, the program relies on 2 types of maps, namely vector and raster. Depending on the region of the world you are interested in, you can preview non-encrypted and encrypted maps with traditional, day or night colors.

These options can come in handy when you are planning a longer trip that entails traveling for days to unknown places. You should keep in mind that if you do not find a certain map within the app, you can download and add it easily.

The plethora of options available with PolarView NS can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. If you are an advanced user or full-fledged sailor, then you would gladly take advantage of all the instruments (GPS navigation, tides, currents, weather, ports, live ship simulation, etc) to create your own navigation chart.

On the other hand, learning how to configure the aforementioned analog and digital instruments properly can be time-consuming for a less experienced user. The program comes with an extensive user manual that offers detailed explanations of how to make the correct settings.

Even though it may not be as appealing for first-time users, PolarView NS can be quite a powerful and useful tool if you are passionate about sailing.