Hello Commander,
The compass in SSE is more akin to what actually exists on the current modern ships with its Integrated Bridge Systems. It is more of the Conning Compass which gets most of the information from the ECDIS. As you see from the screenshot below there is quite some information surrounding the compass and it gives a fair idea of the heading too. This will be more evident for those who have used Ship Simulator 2008
I am not aware if you have used Ship Simulator 2008, but this version of the compass is an improvement of what exists there. One of the first things that occurred to me when I started using SSE was the presence of more screen "real estate" compared to SS 2008.
I am in no way undermining SS 2008 and I will always maintain it is one great Ship Sim. Adding a compass like what you are suggesting may tend to rob "real estate" from the SSE screen.
Nevertheless, it is an opinion of yours. May I suggest you please register the License Key of your copy of SSE in your Profile in the Forum. This will offer you access to all the boards of the Forum. Posts like yours can be included in a board called "Feature requests and suggestions".
To depict my comment on "screen real estate" please see screenshots below.
SSE
SS2008
Regards
vin_sun