The concept of the ship navigator decision support system was developed in the course of research conducted at the Maritime University of Szczecin. Sup4Nav company founded by the university staff took up the task of commercialization of the idea and the preparation of appropriate algorithms. Softline has been chosen to prepare the user application (for the ship navigator). Due to the innovative idea, the originators needed to develop the solution as fast as possible and gain market leadership. In joint efforts, we managed to create the first working version of the application in four months.

NAVDEC is the first and only world-class intelligent ECDIS system fully solving the marine collision situations. It performs the real-time analysis of the navigational situation, and suggests a solution to the navigator in the event of a collision situation, taking into account the current regulations.

Data on the position of the parent ship and the ships in the vicinity are presented on digital maps (ENC-compliant) as a part of the navigator application. The system integrates data from different sources including GPS antennas and AIS and ARPA messages transmitted by ships. In addition to suggestions on how to resolve conflict situations, the application also enables to plan the route and monitor its progress. It includes an extensive system of alarms that increase safety, including the avoidance of bodies of water with insufficient depth. It also provides a set of tools for manipulating the map itself – scaling, panning, rotating, and adding user objects, or making measurements.

NAVDEC application was developed for the Windows operating system and written in C++, in line with customer expectations. It uses the digital maps under the license from Jeppesen.