An aircraft-based or vehicle-based system and method for enhancing situational awareness via a display system for displaying map-based charts (e.g., terminal charts, enroute charts, avionics charts) displays an active map-based chart (specifically an active panel of the map-based chart) and superimposes over the displayed active panel a panel selector display, e.g., a thumbnail display of the active enroute chart with a subset of the information provided by the enroute chart and divided into its component panels. The panel selector display highlights the currently displayed active panel and provides an ownship indicator showing the approximate position of the aircraft or vehicle relative to the currently active enroute chart.