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New ENC Standard
Packaging and distribution of electronic navigational charts are to be further standardised following a recent workshop sponsored by ChartWorld inHamburg attended by ECDIS manufacturers, ENC retailers and representatives of the International Hydrographic Bureau .
Involving approximately 8,800 square km of seabed mapping, the project is Gardline’s ninth successive annual CHP and is the first to feature multibeam bathymetric techniques. The company’s own hydrographic survey ship, MV Ocean Seeker , has been assigned for the task equipped with a Kongsberg-Simrad EM 1002 multibeam system.
As a result, a new industry standard, S63x, is to be introduced. It will act as a layer on top of established IHO standards S-63 (ENC encryption) and S-57 (ENC transfer) while establishing means for more robust and reliable handling of ENC’s.
ENC distributors UKHO, ChartWorld and Transas along with ECDIS designers HDW-Hagenuk, Raytheon Marine, SAM Electronics, SevenCs, Sperry Marine and Transas have all agreed to implement S63x-compliant services which are expected to provide ECDIS users with smoother reading and updating without compromising underlying IHO standards. A further workshop for interested parties is scheduled for later this year.
