ECDIS

Electronic Charts Display and Information System

Dispozitive de afisare a hartilor electronice si
sisteme informatice

Course No 2 Types of Electronic charts

Paper charts their deficiencies (1)

A very poor interface to electronic positioning systems

High latency
High probability of plotting errors
Difficulty of route planning on multiple charts
Complicated navigation at chart boundaries
Updating process (corrections) is time consuming and error prone
Large size makes optimal siting of chart table difficult
Sub-optimal siting and high work load takes navigators attention away from bridge
windows and other situational awareness displays
Confined to North-up operation
Expensive delivery with high latency (measured in many days ...)
ECDIS is not a paper chart on an electronic display

It has quite different strengths and weaknesses compared to the use of

paper charts

The visual experience is surprisingly different and so is their actual

use

Using either must be based on taking advantages of their particular

strengths and compensating for their weaknesses

A working knowledge that exploits the benefits but minimizes the

weaknesses is the basis of a good mindset
The ECDIS mindset

Building a new mindset for ECDIS is essential it is not a minor modification of a

paper chart mindset

ECDIS has much greater functionality and therefore greater inherent usefulness
than a paper chart

The why and how of its functionality need to be part of the new mindset

Unfortunately, the assimilation of good ECDIS practice is unlikely to be fully

obtained in a course of just 5 days (or less!)

(In comparison, how long does it take to be totally familiar with paper chart
navigation?)
Why is an ECDIS mindset different?

Data on a paper chart is always visible but fixed in detail

Data shown on ECDIS has user selectable detail but requires
knowledgeable settings

Data on a paper chart has been skilfully laid out by a cartographer

A clear electronic chart presentation relies heavily on the skills of the
user

Users must compensate for the relatively small size of an ECDIS display
Users must compensate when working close to the edges of a paper
chart
Why is an ECDIS mindset different?

ECDIS can give a false sense of positional accuracy, which is seldom the
case when using a paper chart.

Accurate position plotting on paper is difficult and tedious. Errors of

position fixing equipment may be masked.

The understanding of ECDIS alarms and their management is essential.

ECDIS is electronic and can fail at any time in a number of ways, some
subtle.
Electronic Charts

All ECDIS manufacturers have different kinds of graphical user

interface layouts, but there is one thing they all have in common:

They all read and use S-57 ENC chart format and transfer it into
their own system electronic navigation chart ( SENC) format.
ARCS
NOAA Different TX-97
CM93
SEAFARER
Chart
Formats

PRIMAR
IC-ENC DNC
JHA VPF
Source: TRANSAS
 Availability of ENC Charts
As of mid-2015 more than 16.000 official ENC charts are
available

Small Scale94%

Source: IC-ENC chart catalogue (2012) Medium Scale68%

Large Scale65%