THE STATUS AND FUTURE OF THE ELECTRONIC CHART

There is still fierce debate in the international community regarding the use and standards of electronic chart data and equipment. Whilst t he standards for ECDIS are now virtually complete and type-approved eq uipment will be entering the market during 1998, there is currently no IMO/IHO compliant ENC data service from any national hydrographic off ice. It is expected that it will be 1 to 2 years before there is any a ppreciable quantity of ENC data supported by a proper update service. It will be many more years before ENC data becomes available to match the present coverage of paper charts, but we can expect that most majo r routes and the port entries of the majority of the world's trading n ations will be available within a few years. This situation is examine d, together with the ideas that IMO is considering to improve the avai lability of official electronic chart data. In addition, the distribut ion of electronic charts is discussed and the future trends in navigat ion that will occur with the availability of ECDIS equipment and relat ed data are explored.