The views expressed in this paper are personal to the author, and not intended to represent official policy of the UK Hydrographic Office.

With the ever increasing use of electronic charts in the small craft sector, this paper is designed to give some background to developments at the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. Included is a short review of the state of the market, with the author's view of possible future progression. The various formats of data are discussed, with a summary of the legislative background within the commercial market. This discussion is relevant, as it will ultimately shape the future market for small craft users

It is of historical interest that it was written instructions in the form of periplus, rather than the paper chart, that are recorded as providing the first form of document to guide marine navigators. Therefore perhaps the wheel has turned full circle when it is the digital information rather than the video display that may provide the basic guidance for the navigation of ships in the future. In 1986, when IMO and IHO set out to develop standards and specifications, it was decided that the product to be specified would have to be equivalent to the paper chart. In so doing they were following the guidance of the SOLAS Convention, which requires charts to be carried in Chapter V Regulation 20 and, in Chapter 1 Regulation 5, permits Administrations to substitute equivalents. Regulation V/20 does not state that the charts to be carried be paper but, until recently, it has been assumed that this is what is meant. What is explicit, is that the charts to be carried are to be ‘adequate, up-to-date and necessary for the intended voyage’. Following this guidance, the IMO/IHO Harmonizing Group attempted to specify an electronic system that would be equivalent to a printed paper document. This proved to be no easy task. It was extremely difficult to claim that an electronic system can be as durable and as generally reliable as a sheet of paper. What if the power breaks down? This and many other questions had to be answered before the standards would satisfy the members of IMO.

During the last 5 years there has been a rapid growth in the market for electronic charts. All of the systems that currently use these charts, regardless of their size and complexity, have one thing in common: they are all officially classified as Electronic Chart Systems (ECS). By definition, these systems are not considered to be equivalent to conventional paper charts for the purposes of satisfying SOLAS regulations. For all vessels bound by these regulations, ECS cannot be used in place of paper charts. Consequently, it has been left to commercial companies to provide data for use in these systems. Such data have been of variable quality, and no commercial company currently provides a correction service that matches that provided by most hydrographic offices for paper charts.

The unexpected commercial success of electronic charting systems has put an unusual pressure on the regulatory organizations to come up with some accepted international standard for this new technology. Unfortunately, the scope of this issue is far-reaching and touches the most sensitive nerves of maritime tradition and culture. This cumbersome legacy was noticeable from the very first US RTCM meetings on the subject and has conditioned the development of recommendations ever since.

This paper, written by an outsider, tries to look at the whole issue with an unprejudiced eye, arriving at a conclusion which casts heavy doubts on the wisdom of the current course and which advocates a different approach to take advantage of the incredibly powerful potential of this new technology – a technology which could radically change the rules and laws of commercial navigation to the benefit of safety and economy.