  A Woods-Saxon equivalent to a double folding potential in the surface region
is obtained for the heavy-ion scattering potential. The Woods-Saxon potential
has fixed geometry and was applied as a bare potential in the analysis of
experimental data of several systems. A new analytical formula for the position
and height of the Coulomb barrier is presented, which reproduces the results
obtained using double folding potentials. This simple formula has been applied
to estimate the fusion cross section above the Coulomb barrier. A comparison
with experimental data is presented.
