The digital shift in sailing
For centuries, sailors learned to navigate using paper charts spread out on a table, plotting positions with dividers and pencils and planning routes manually. This process taught discipline and seamanship but it inevitably came with errors and inaccuracies related to human predictions. While traditional methodology is still valuable today, digital technology has caused a massive change in marine navigation, evolving unstoppably through the years and offering new tools and data inaccessible in the past.
Today, electronic charts are the most widespread and indispensable companion for venturing out to sea. Using electronic charts consent not only to display all relevant information for planning but also to interact with data and receive always-up-to-date information.
The digital shift trend is confirmed by official authorities and hydrographic offices decisions. In fact, NOAA has fully retired paper nautical charts in favour of digital official charts as of January 2025. The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is following the same path, aiming to phase out paper charts by the end of 2026 to focus on digital navigation products and services.
Relying on digital tools isn’t just a matter of convenience for modern navigators, it reflects a fundamental change in how they make decisions. Chartplotters, tablets and mobile navigation apps give access to a wide range of data that were inaccessible in the past, such as route planning with estimated time of arrival (ETA), real-time weather forecasts, tide and current information. These tools can also be easily integrated with onboard instruments to show depth, wind or even AIS vessel tracking.
Another important aspect of the digital transition is the growing role of the boating community. With modern navigation apps, sailors can share updated information on marinas, anchorages or local hazards, creating a constantly evolving knowledge base that benefits everyone at sea. At the same time, the use of digital charts reduces the environmental impact linked to the printing and shipping of paper charts, promoting a more sustainable way of sailing.
Digital tools in modern sailing education:
The transition to digital has inevitably been reflected also in sailing education.
Electronic navigation tools have been integrated in modern sailing schools in order to prepare students with real hands-on experience of what they’ll encounter at sea. With tablets and apps, students in classrooms can learn to plan routes in short times, automatically calculate distance and overlay tidal or weather data. Later on the water, they can follow the planned track, mark waypoints and monitor traffic in real time . By practicing with apps and devices in a learning environment, they gain confidence in technology while still being guided to back it up with traditional skills.
For instructors, this bears significant advantages in the efficacy of the course. Introducing chartplotters, tablets and navigation apps contributes in shaping more engaging and practical lessons, drifting away from purely theoretical lessons using paper charts.
Using marine apps in training
Integrating marine navigation apps into training has become an official practice of the majority of sailing schools worldwide. In fact, sailing instructors usually dedicate specific sessions on the use of the most common and well-known marine navigation apps, testing directly the knowledge acquired with practical exercises and tests at sea.
The adoption of marine navigation apps offers many valuable advantages to both students and instructors:
- Hands-on with real-world tools: Most sailors today rely primarily on digital technologies to set sail. Learning using apps and tablets provides students with practical knowledge of tools they’ll actually use after training.
- Advanced learning curve: Apps and digital charts simplify distance, bearing, and ETA calculations, letting students apprehend navigation concepts more quickly while still reinforcing the theory behind them.
- Integrated data in one place: All necessary data to navigate efficiently and safely can be gathered and stored in a multifunctional tool.
- Better feedback: Digital tracks and routes allow instructors to review exercises in detail, showing where students stayed on course or drifted, and highlighting areas for improvement.
- Enhanced safety awareness: Training with collision-avoidance tools (like AIS overlays) and alarms increases safety standards.
- Accessibility and cost-effectiveness: Tablets and apps are more affordable and portable than traditional full-size chartplotters, making them ideal for classroom use and training on smaller vessels.
How can Aqua Map support your training?
Aqua Map represents the perfect ally for instructors who want to provide students with real-world digital navigation skills by integrating marine navigation apps into their courses.
In Aqua Map, we strongly believe in the power of safety and education and that the best way to prepare the next generation of navigators is to give them the tools they will actually use at sea. That’s why we created the School Program, designed to facilitate and enhance the training experience of instructors and students. At the core of the program is a school kit that Aqua Map provides to teachers to be fully used or taken as reference within their electronic navigation programs.
Aqua Map school kit includes:
- Free Charts and Advanced tools licences for both instructors and students
- Dedicated material: presentations, tutorials and guides
- Instructors training
- Certificate of participation for the students who complete the course
- Student discount for the first year after they have completed the course
- Constant support through our dedicated channel
By providing the school kit, Aqua Map aims to support instructors in their goal of equipping students with knowledge and practical skills to sail safely and effectively.
The Aqua Map School program is open to any certified instructor or sailing school who wants to partner with us. Below the dedicated support channel to contact us:
A look at the future
The shift to digital is irreversible and it represents the future of navigation. It’s important though to keep in mind that digital navigation cannot completely replace traditional methods nor erase it.
It has been proven that over-relying on technologies can lead to groundings or collisions. That’s why modern sailing schools insist on maintaining a balance between the old and new. Students are taught to treat apps and chartplotters as decision-support tools, not replacements for vigilance or chart consciousness. Paper charts still represent the foundations of navigation and will always remain available alongside new methods and tools.
Sources:
- UKHO (UK Hydrographic Office) Press Release: https://www.admiralty.co.uk/news/UK-Hydrographic-Office-announces-intention-to-withdraw-from-paper-chart-production
- Office of Coast Survey: https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/charts/farewell-to-traditional-nautical-charts.html
- NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmosferic Administration) podcast: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/podcast/apr19/nautical-chart-going-digital.html
- Yach.det: https://www.yacht.de/en/sailing-knowledge/navigation/navigation-the-future-of-nautical-charts-only-plotters-instead-of-paper/
- Sail World Cruising: https://www.sail-world.com/news/254495/Paper-charts-on-the-way-out
- Article Sailing Course online: https://www.sailingcourseonline.co.uk/blog/digital-first-navigation/
