WHOI-90-52

The Probable Future Qf ~ World Qf Electronic Chars
Electronic chars are just moving into an era of accptace and exploitation. This advance ca
be attrbute to the following factors:
1. Recgnition by national and international hydrographic and regulatory agencies of
stadad forms of electronic chars.
2. Continued progress in the field of personal computers and computer components,
resulting in greater procssing power in physicaly smaler enclosures at lower cost.
Also, the continuing improvements in graphics display devices and assoiate graphics
procssing components.
3. Improved availabilty of electronic positioning systems, such as the Global Positioning
System and other satellte systems.
4. The increasing availabilty of digita char databases from a varety of sources.
5. An increase awareness that electronic char systems ca make a major contrbution to
the safety of ship operations and ca also make a significat contrbution to the
prevention of eclogica damage to shoreline areas.
Given these factors, we ca expet to se a rapid increase in the instalation and use of electronic
char systems. Both classes of systems wil benefit. The legal ECDIS, now much closer to
approval by governments as a replacement for the paper char, wil be instaled on many deep-
draft oc going vessels. Indee, in some cases, they wil most likely be required. There is
a goo probabilty that future legislation or regulation wil mandate the use of ECDIS on large
vessels caing hazdous cagoes in or nea shore and harbor areas.
The operating cost reducing potential of ECDIS wil appe to ship owners and operators.
Avoidace of collsions or groundings, attrbutable to the use of
ECDIS, wil result in substatial
economies. Similarly, the elimination of the labor involved in continuous char correction and
updating wil contrbute to cost reduction in ship operations. Finally, the increase effectiveness
of the ECDIS display wil encourage both operators and administrators to approve the reduction
in manning on the bridge, resultig in significat labor cost savings.
Those ship owners that instal electronic char systems as an aid to navigation, rather than as a
substitute for paper chars, wil rapidly grow in numbers. This is already the case for yachtsmen
who have instaled tens of thousads of these systems around the world. These numbers wil
increase as more and more areas are covered by the new positioning systems, providing easy
accss to vessel loction marked as a symbol on the electronic char. The yachtsman's navigation
problems are easily solved by these systems and the large number of instalations attest to this
fact.
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