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Articles

No. 24 (2020)

An Overview of the NOAA ENC Re-Scheming Plan

Submitted
October 31, 2022
Published
2020-11-30

Abstract

The scheme (or footprints) of NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are based on traditional paper/raster charts from which they were derived. As a result, modernizing current ENC coverage to improve the way they are displayed in a digital environment, increase their level of detail, and incorporate additional survey data outside of the existing bounds is complex. As part of NOAA’s “ENC-First” effort, a re-scheming approach was developed to provide a seamless, tiled coverage that can easily be segmented or extended based on geographic location, available data and scale. In this new regular gridded ENC coverage approach, fewer than a dozen chart scales are used (down from the current 130 scales used in the paper chart scheme). The re-scheme plan also aims to improve products for mariners who prefer paper charts. The uniform scales will enable mariners to create customized charts with a new online application. Additionally, NOAA has created one production line for both ENC and Raster Navigational Charts (RNCs) products that will reduce production resources for maintaining two chart products.