Navigating the Download of Navigation Charts

Viewing NOAA Charts

The following FREE Chart Viewers can be used to view NOAA ENCs® and NOAA RNCs. Note: While PC users have choices, only PolarView also has versions available for Mac and Linux in addition to that for PCs.

Product	System Required	Description
CARIS Easy ENC	Windows XP or Vista	Free viewer for many different 2D and 3D file formats
ENC Data Handler for Arc View	Windows Vista, Solaris	Free Data Handler for ArcView from NOAA.   Requires ArcView or ArcGIS
Fugawi View ENC	Windows NT, XP or 2000	Free viewer. Viewer has a limit of 3 open S-57 [ENC] charts
Polar Navy – Free ENC chart viewer	Mac OSX 10.4+, Linux,   Windows NT, XP, Vista, or 7	Free Viewer
Yahnav – Demo ENC	Windows XP or Vista	Evaluate YAHNAV during 30 days. After 30 days you   must register the program.

Additional systems that use ENCs are listed on the OCS ENC Resources page. These systems all have free trial or demo software that allows you to sample their product before you buy. The trial software usually expires after a given amount of time or number of uses and may or may not allow full use of all features of the software. Demo software provides a guided tour through a product. Free viewers, demos and trial versions give you a chance to see how a particular software you before you purchase.

Note: System requirements vary. PC users have a number of choices. Mac users should check out Polar Navy and MacENC™. Linux users are, at least for now, limited to Polar Navy.