Hydrographic offices worldwide started the production of Electronic Nautical Charts (ENCs) based on paper nautical charts, generating various designs in their schemes.
The design of electronic nautical cartography schemes in the Regional Hydrographic Commissions (RHC) is analyzed, in order to understand the existence of schemes adopted by an entire region, or electronic nautical cartography schemes defined by countries with the capacity to produce them worldwide. The review allows us to know the state of the art in the regional schemes, methodologies and / or parameters used in their definition, and level of compliance with international regulations.
In addition, questionnaires were carried out, which were used to acquire complementary information on hydrographic services, and this combined with the analyzes will determine the strengths and weaknesses in the current ENC coverage. Taking maritime safety into account, the investigations were conducive to presenting a methodological proposal for regional standardized ENC schemes.
This article has been organized into five points, the first one presents the analysis of the coverage of current electronic charts, taking into account the metadata of the coverage used by the different Regional Hydrographic Commissions. In the second, a survey carried out to several Hydrographic Services is presented, including: the review and registration of relevant aspects of the ENC schemes at the RHCs level, as well as the socialization and issuance of the survey to the RENC Member States. IC-ENC; in the third, the results of the analysis of the information collected on the designs of the current ENC schemes in the RHCs that responded to the survey; the fourth presents the strengths and weaknesses found in specific cases of the current ENC schemes; and finally, in the fifth, the work in progress by the subgroup for the ENC Regional Scheme in the MACHC is evidenced.