When I first went to sea some 40 years ago as a young petty officer in the U.S. Navy, one of my primary responsibilities was to keep the ship’s navigational charts and nautical publications up to date. The navigation charts encompassed a portfolio of several hundred paper charts while the nautical publications included a bookshelf crammed with navigation guidebooks like International Sailing Directions and U.S. Coast Pilots. The corrections to these were made by pen-and-ink, using information derived from the weekly Notice to Mariners. I had to maintain a card file that recorded which changes had been made to which charts — a tedious and time-consuming job!
Keeping navigational charts up to date is a never-ending process. Every week around the world hundreds of buoys, lights and daymarkers are created, destroyed, moved, renumbered and altered. Channels are dredged and sometimes rerouted. Underwater reefs and shoals are identified. New wrecks are discovered. To keep maritime navigation safe, all of these corrections must be marked on the appropriate navigation charts.
Thanks to scientific advances, many ocean-going ships are equipped with modern electronic charts display and information systems (ECDIS). However, the international Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations still require these ships to carry a complete portfolio of up-to-date paper charts covering their shipping routes and ports of call. National Coast Guards vigorously enforce these regulations. Under some circumstances, ships equipped with dual redundant ECDIS may be allowed to go “paperless,” but only a handful of ships meet this requirement.
ECDIS offers mariners the advantage of being able to download data from the Notice to Mariners through a satellite link directly into the ship’s ECDIS computer. All changes required to navigation charts are incorporated automatically into the ship’s database for display on the screen. Ease and accuracy are two significant benefits of this process. Still, every week second mates on commercial ships have to sit down in the chartroom and correct paper nautical charts with pen and ink to meet international requirements and ensure their ships’ safety.
The need for up-to-date marine maps certainly is not limited to naval and commercial ships. It applies to vessels of all sizes and types, including those of the weekend sailor, powerboat cruiser and sport fisherman. Navigating on out-of-date navigational charts poses a significant danger for every vessel and its crew. It is akin to driving blind.
Bottom line? The wise sailor makes sure that he or she has the latest and most advanced electronic charts on the water. One smart solution is marine cartography from Jeppesen Marine. The company releases new cartography twice a year for its light marine products, providing the most current, accurate navigational charts available for sailing, cruising and fishing ocean or inland waters.
For more information on how charts are updated, visit the NOAA website at http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/learn_chartupdate.html
Keeping navigational charts up to date is a never-ending process. Every week around the world hundreds of buoys, lights and daymarkers are created, destroyed, moved, renumbered and altered. Channels are dredged and sometimes rerouted. Underwater reefs and shoals are identified. New wrecks are discovered. To keep maritime navigation safe, all of these corrections must be marked on the appropriate navigation charts.
Thanks to scientific advances, many ocean-going ships are equipped with modern electronic charts display and information systems (ECDIS). However, the international Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations still require these ships to carry a complete portfolio of up-to-date paper charts covering their shipping routes and ports of call. National Coast Guards vigorously enforce these regulations. Under some circumstances, ships equipped with dual redundant ECDIS may be allowed to go “paperless,” but only a handful of ships meet this requirement.
ECDIS offers mariners the advantage of being able to download data from the Notice to Mariners through a satellite link directly into the ship’s ECDIS computer. All changes required to navigation charts are incorporated automatically into the ship’s database for display on the screen. Ease and accuracy are two significant benefits of this process. Still, every week second mates on commercial ships have to sit down in the chartroom and correct paper nautical charts with pen and ink to meet international requirements and ensure their ships’ safety.
The need for up-to-date marine maps certainly is not limited to naval and commercial ships. It applies to vessels of all sizes and types, including those of the weekend sailor, powerboat cruiser and sport fisherman. Navigating on out-of-date navigational charts poses a significant danger for every vessel and its crew. It is akin to driving blind.
Bottom line? The wise sailor makes sure that he or she has the latest and most advanced electronic charts on the water. One smart solution is marine cartography from Jeppesen Marine. The company releases new cartography twice a year for its light marine products, providing the most current, accurate navigational charts available for sailing, cruising and fishing ocean or inland waters.
For more information on how charts are updated, visit the NOAA website at http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/learn_chartupdate.html
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