Narrative:

While on the way to lga direct etg; we were given a heading 160 degrees right and told to hold at miget on the arrival as published. When the pilot monitoring told the controller it was not on the arrival and asked for further clarification; ATC simply repeated as published. After a second query; ATC indicated that the fix was on an IFR high chart; and directed us to look there without telling us requested information (inbound course). Being compressed in time getting to the fix; we initially had difficulty using the ipad for high charts; making sure to select routes and fixes without other information and making sure to zoom in at the right amount without too much. We saw 57 for an inbound course and selected this. After a parallel outbound entry and inbound to the fix; ATC cleared us a heading on course to continue to lga. After landing; the first officer continued to reassess the flight and noticed that the inbound course was actually 109; but this was partly obscured by the blue flight plan course line. 57 was the distance between fixes on the high chart.ATC's lack of clarity [on] where to find the published holding and their decision not to simply state an inbound course along with leg length and turn direction caused undue workload in a compressed time frame. My lack of familiarity with using jeppesen high charts and the fact that the inbound course was covered by the flight plan blue line made it difficult to find the correct course.the jeppesen program is not often used. Using a program like foreflight which shows actual high charts and not digital charts that redraw and change based on zoom sounds better in theory; but in practice; makes it an unfriendly tool to use. In the future; I would be more insistent to ATC that we need better directions and also take more care in analyzing the chart.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-900 flight crew reported a track deviation occurred when they were assigned a hold and could not find the inbound course in their iPad's ForeFlight chart program.

Narrative: While on the way to LGA direct ETG; we were given a heading 160 degrees right and told to hold at MIGET on the arrival as published. When the Pilot Monitoring told the controller it was not on the arrival and asked for further clarification; ATC simply repeated as published. After a second query; ATC indicated that the fix was on an IFR high chart; and directed us to look there without telling us requested information (inbound course). Being compressed in time getting to the fix; we initially had difficulty using the iPad for high charts; making sure to select routes and fixes without other information and making sure to zoom in at the right amount without too much. We saw 57 for an inbound course and selected this. After a parallel outbound entry and inbound to the fix; ATC cleared us a heading on course to continue to LGA. After landing; the First Officer continued to reassess the flight and noticed that the inbound course was actually 109; but this was partly obscured by the blue flight plan course line. 57 was the distance between fixes on the high chart.ATC's lack of clarity [on] where to find the published holding and their decision not to simply state an inbound course along with leg length and turn direction caused undue workload in a compressed time frame. My lack of familiarity with using Jeppesen high charts and the fact that the inbound course was covered by the flight plan blue line made it difficult to find the correct course.The Jeppesen program is not often used. Using a program like ForeFlight which shows actual high charts and not digital charts that redraw and change based on zoom sounds better in theory; but in practice; makes it an unfriendly tool to use. In the future; I would be more insistent to ATC that we need better directions and also take more care in analyzing the chart.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.