ECDIS

Question 1

What is an ECDIS? What is required to create an ECDIS?

Answer 1

• Electronic Chart Display Information System

ECDIS Inputs

• ENC’s from the IHO (must meet IMO performance standards S-52, S-57, S-63)
• Sensors (GPS, Heading, Speed, Depth, Radar, AIS)
• ENC’s must be up to date
• Without any of these features the ECDIS does not meet the IMO performance standards and therefore does not meet the SOLAS carriage requirements

A backup system

• Another ECDIS with an independent power supply
• Paper charts

Question 2

What are the two types of charts on an ECDIS system?

What are the advantages of an ENC?

Answer 2

Raster Charts
- Screenshot of a paper chart
- Must be supplemented with paper charts where these are used
or 
- ENC (vector chart) 

Advantages of ENC

• Alarms
• Zoom in and out
• Seemless chart boundaries
• Updates are quicker
• Layers
• Interrogate

Question 3

What are the mandatory alarms on an ECDIS?

Answer 3

• Crossing a safety contour
• Entering an area with special conditions
• Deviation from route
• Position system failure
• Approach to a critical point (e.g. waypoint)
• Different geodetic datum
• Malfunction of ECDIS

Question 4

What are the Limitations of an ECDIS?

Answer 4

• Overscale = Operator is at the wrong scale, therefore, omitting potentially important navigational information
• Overreliance
• Wrong choice of layers
• Input failures
• Chart Error = Charts not up to date