Coast Guard approves official electronic charts

I just saw this . The U.S. Coast Guard published guidance Feb. 5 that allows mariners to use electronic charts and publications instead of paper charts, maps and publications.

http://www.safety4sea.com/uscg-guida...-publications/


I use electronic charts but I always carry paper charts as a backup.

October 23, 2013 - The second most dangerous thing onboard:
https://activecaptain.com/newsletters/2013-10-23.php

I couldn't get that link to work but this one did....


https://www.dvidshub.net/news/188229/us-coast-guard-approves-official-electronic-charts#.VrocN2z2Z2E

Jeffrey S said:

October 23, 2013 - The second most dangerous thing onboard:
https://activecaptain.com/newsletters/2013-10-23.php

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There are usually two or more sides to every issue. There are numerous examples of boats and ships including the US Navy running afoul of electronic navigation. I personally see the good and the bad of both sides of the argument and use both paper and electronics and my personal judgment to balance both. My experience with coastal and inland navigation leads me to use as many factors as possible to navigate.

If paper charts are just printed copies of electronic charts (raster)...not sure where the argument really is.


Where the issues are is not in electronic nav in theory and most practice...but whether paper or electronic... if a shoal is misrepresented in actual location....if you are staring at a chartplotter or a nav table...the result is the same.


How to use old or new tools has been the challenge as much as the tool itself.

This was already the case for boats with ECDIS that complied with International Maritime Organization regulations.

Sorry about the first link I found another
Coast Guard approves official electronic charts | Coast Guard News

BandB said:

This was already the case for boats with ECDIS that complied with International Maritime Organization regulations.

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Sort of...

The IMO regulations adopted in 2011 specified that paper charts were no longer needed as a backup if there was a second, independent ECDIS system on the ship. Those regulations for international travel still exist.

The Coast Guard is going a much further step to drive the last nails into the paper chart coffin - they specify the ridiculous nature of keeping paper charts up to date and no longer require them at all.

There was a time when I only used paper charts. You could easily tell because they were filled with pencil marks. I didn't update my charts because I wanted the latest ones; I updated them because they were so filled with pencil marks and erasures that I couldn't see much of them any longer. That's why we all updated our charts.

Today most boaters, me included, couldn't quickly do a DR plot on the most perfect, sunny, clear day, let alone during the rip roaring storm where you'd likely have to be doing it. I'm realistic about it. I have a degree in mathematics and used to do most of the DR calculations in my head. I couldn't think of doing that today - it's a skill that you have to maintain. Precious few people still have that skill because we all follow the moving blip on the screen.

I always love when others argue that they wouldn't move without their paper charts. Again, I was there and agree with how it used to be. But if you're going to say that now, then post a picture of your charts showing that they're up-to-date and filled with pencil marks. Because if they're nice and pristine, you're not using paper charts at all. You're maintaining a false sense of security since you couldn't really use them if you needed to. It's much safer to just keep a backup electronic nav systems somehow, even on a phone.

Jeffrey S said:

October 23, 2013 - The second most dangerous thing onboard:
https://activecaptain.com/newsletters/2013-10-23.php

Click to expand...

Very interesting! Thank you.

[FONT=monospace, courier]- The paper charts onboard are typically far out of date. While there are areas like Maine that haven't changed in centuries, even Maine changes harbors, buoys, and channels. Consider the amount of changes to the New Jersey coastline after superstorm Sandy

For most of the folks that cruise the inland waterway , paoer charts are updated underway.

I still have charts from the late 1960s , and the usual update is to strike the old buoy number and change it to a new higher number.

In some places the old days of running buoy to buoy is gone , there are now so many nav aids its like running beside a picket fence.

Running the loop in Canada , there actually is a need for the chart and a set of compass binoculars , to find the next mark.


[/FONT]

FF said:

[FONT=monospace, courier]In some places the old days of running buoy to buoy is gone , there are now so many nav aids its like running beside a picket fence.[/FONT]

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That's true. But that causes a different problem - navigation aids move and fixed ones get knocked down by barges. Now you're running the fence but a section is missing. Often, aids are in a particular place to mark the edge of things. Now there's no mark.

And it even gets worse...

In our lifetime, we'll see the elimination of many physical navigation aids. The budget for the CG is too high for the maintenance of those physical aids. AIS has a navigation aid capability and there are some places where it's being used and experimented with now. New shoaling or obstruction? The electronic nav aid gets updated that day to guide people to avoid it.

Then there are major international efforts going on to collect crowd-sourced depth information - officially it's the International Hydrographic Organization's Crowdsourced Bathymetry Working Group (IHO CSBWG). I'm partially involved with the NOAA effort as an advisor. The idea is to create a central repository where we can all store our depth findings. They get normalized to tide and correlated to throw out erroneous data. That database then creates the next generation of chart display.

I think what's important is to have one or more alternate forms of charts in case your primary stops working or gets damaged, etc. It's no different from any other critical system on your boat - you need to have a clear plan of action if it fails.

History is the only reason why paper pulp comes to mind when we talk about backups for charts. It's not the paper pulp that's magical, it's the fact that it's a second charting source if the first one fails. That's what we care about.

I'm 100% with Jeff on this. I have no problem (actually prefer it) with all my backup charting tools being electronic. The key, as with any backup, is to keep it safe and separate from the primary to minimize likelihood of it suffering damage from the same catastrophe that took out the primary. You can never be 100% protected, but you need to think it through and do your best. Note that paper charts a subject to destruction too. Imagine a wave that takes out a pilot house window, shorting out your electronics and soaking all your paper charts. Now you are double screwed.

The FAA has allowed all electronic charts for several years now. They are updated about every 2 weeks and a crew can receive a violation if their charts are out of date.

For Planning purposes I find paper charts invaluable, and they don't have to be up to date.

Curious though, with so many folks hyping the importance of up to date charts, I really wonder how many of us update our electronic charts. I haven't since buying my Garmin plotter in 2011.

I always cruise with two sets of updated electronic charts. Now, for Europe, it's C-Map and Navionics HD.

I also had a different version of the Navionics, but I met a Swedish boat in Poland and they suggested the Europe HD. For $79 I got it immediately. It is also the reason I have a large 12.5" tablet.

The level of detail in the Europe HD charts is outstanding, with more detail than I have ever seen before.

Every rock I hit was on the charts, both of them! Charts that is.
Rocks also.

Richard

We update the charts before every use of the boat. Also, if we want a paper chart, we print them out new before a trip. Even then we make sure to update them with any updates during the trip. Transas has a neat feature that allows you to enter the date of your paper chart and they provide you any updates since that time so you can note them.

That's why I like charting with NOAA raster charts.


I just download a new set before every trip.


The plotter is backup.


For international travel I will have to readjust some.

Jeffrey S said:

And it even gets worse...

In our lifetime, we'll see the elimination of many physical navigation aids. The budget for the CG is too high for the maintenance of those physical aids. AIS has a navigation aid capability and there are some places where it's being used and experimented with now. New shoaling or obstruction? The electronic nav aid gets updated that day to guide people to avoid it.

Click to expand...

We have one of these "virtual" buoys on the lower Columbia River, by Cathlament WA.! I was looking all over the place for it and actually ran over it, virtually. Scared the crap out of me until I realized what it was....