After thinking it through and recalling all the old ways of getting target info in SH3, I still dig the functionality of the nomograph.
In SH3 if I needed speed I could take the range, mark it on the map, run the stopwatch for any period of time (longer the better) and then apply those numbers to the nomograph and get a solid speed out of it. And it works at any AOB.
If the stadimeter in SH4 is better than the one in SH3 then range shouldn't be an issue. That means that all you need is time, and thats a number that you can generate yourself.
But I dig the charts anyway. I want to work out a chart system that can spare me the need of a nomograph under as many circumstances as I can avoid.