The Genesis of Electronic Charting

Abstract

AbstractSignificant advances in marine navigation have resulted in all major vessels being equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers today, capable of providing highly accurate positions worldwide as an input to ECS (Electronic Chart System) and ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System), a system that was approved by IMO (International Maritime Organization) for use on ships in 1989.Similarly, most major vehicle fleet operations and, in fact, most automobiles are now available with devices referred to as a “GPS,” although they consist of the same two distinct subsystems. One is essentially a GPS receiver that collects signals from a satellite constellation to calculate a position. Most importantly, it provides a latitude and longitude position, which is sent to the second subsystem consisting of a computer with a graphics display that shows this Lat/Lon position on a map or chart background.To manufacturers, GPS is primarily an enabling technology for electronic charts and mapping systems that provides the necessary position information so it can be displayed in relation to surrounding hazards. It does this without delay and often in combination with other important navigation sensor data on board. Without charts as a background, numbers or coordinates alone can't tell the mariner about his or her relationship to a reef or shoal up ahead.Without such systems, ships could not meet the suggested accuracies for “Harbor Entrance and Approach” in the United States. ECDIS has been recognized by many great leaders in the industry:“It will completely change the way we do business…. For the first time you will know where you are, not where you were.”—RADM J. Austin Yeager, NOAA Coast & Geodetic Survey (A New Way to Navigate)“ECDIS is the most significant improvement in navigation in the past 100 years.”—Captain Ed Rollinson, U.S. Coast Guard (ECDIS—A View From the Bridge, issued by The Canadian Hydrographic Service and Partners, U.S. Coast Guard R&D Center)“ECDIS…Potentially the most significant breakthrough in marine navigation that has occurred since the advent of radar almost 50 years ago”—Dr. Lee Alexander, Chairman of International Electrotechnical Commission Working Group (Leading the Way with ECPINS, issued by Offshore Systems Ltd. [OSL]/Offshore Systems International [OSI])Development and application of the first ECS is presented, together with subsequent advances to the level of ECDIS.