The electronic chart

Description

This report is the results of the first “Workshop on the Electronic Chart”. The workshop, held at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, from 21 to 23 June 1982, brought together mariners (users), hydrographers (chart producers), marine regulation administrator, and researchers in relevant fields (see ‘Participants’). Although each participant spoke briefly on his area of expertise, much of the time was spent in semi-structured discussion. Sessions were designated for discussion of: Rationale: Why? When? The long term goal (assuming no constraints). Technology review and critique: Hardware/software, potential and limitations (constraints). Non-technical constraints: Legal, regulatory, administrative and financial constraints were all considered. The short term objective. A development scenario. The aim of the workshop was to explore the implications of electronic technology advances on the production and use of the nautical chart. In this report, the authors have tried to incorporate the consensus from the presentations and discussions at the workshop. Much of the detail presented in the technology review session has been included in the appendices, along with additional material provided subsequently by the participants. In mid-July a draft of this report was distributed to all participants for review. On receipt of the reviews, considerable re-structuring of the report was done, but no significant changes were made in the executive summary or in the conclusions. Having followed this procedure, the authors are confident that the significant statements and conclusions presented here are a valid consensus of the discussions. The Electronic Chart Workshop and preparation of this report were sponsored by the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ottawa, through DSS contract serial number 0SC82-000127. Mr. R.M. Eaton was project officer for this contract and, in collaboration with Mr. N.M. Anderson, did the pre-workshop planning. The authors gratefully acknowledge the expertise of Ms Wendy Wells in editing the text and in compiling it on the word processor.