Welcome To River Charts. Info

This Web Site was formed from an Ideal that everyone needs a helping hand in understanding the new Electronic River Charts (IENC-Inland Electronic Navigation Charts) From NOAA & The Army Corps of Engineers & help fix errors that a person may see on the new electronic charts. The electronic S57  charts are always being improved & updated from everyone's help passing on information.

The Electronic chart " TEAMS " from NOAA & The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) spend months putting together all the information into what we see, & they need our feedback on a job well done, as well as letting them know about errors. If no one speaks up about the IENC(Inland Electronic Navigation Charts) problem seen, then the problem can not be fixed.

This will be the way everyone working on the waters will see & use charting systems in the S57 format for years to come. Paper Charts will be placed on the shelf & start to build dust as the GPS units, computers take over the waterways & bring a new style, & group of people moving the product from the gulf coast to Canada, & from the Bays on the West Coast to the Eastern Seaboard.

Everyone who doesn't want to learn & understand how to use the new tools of the trade ( IENC ) & take the tools to use them as a plus, will be left behind.

Everyone has the power to help change the way we use the new tools of the trade, as well as keep the old tools alive. The old tools as in our eyes, ears, & most important Our Gut Feeling, that have guided people along the waterways for over a 100 years.

People need to understand the new tools will do nothing more than enhance our skills to make the waterways safer for everyone that use the Electronic S57 charts on our waterways if they use common sense when using the new style of tools.

Nothing can replace a good person's knowledge & skills. Make no mistake about it, learning the waterways the old school way & taking the new electronic tools can make for a very good skilled person, but using only the new electronic tools can cost that person in the long run.

The Electronic Chart readers do many things, but the main job the electronic chart reader does is read the information placed on the charts from NOAA & ACE! Everything else is a bonus the reader may do.

At the end of the second millennium, another link was forged in the continuing saga of electronic charting. The assistant commandants for Systems, Operations, and Marine Safety and Environmental Protection chartered a guidance team for electronic charting (ECGT). The focus of this group is to develop a harmonized Coast Guard approach to the issues of electronic charting whether they are internal to the agency, national, or international in scope. Landmark action taken by the ECGT in its first few sessions have been:

• Development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Coast Guard and NOAA that covers both the purchasing and sharing of S-57 chart data. This MOU is a significant first step toward harmonizing the past, present, and future goals of NOAA and the Coast Guard to achieve S-57 chart coverage of U.S. waters while keeping the life-cycle costs--chart development and maintenance--to a minimum for the Coast Guard and NOAA.

• Creation of working groups to improve the Coast Guard's process for providing ATONIS data to NOAA and to develop and improve training for electronic chart systems that have been or will be fielded in the Coast Guard.

• Issuance of a change to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that exempts certain public vessels from the requirement to carry paper charts.

Inside the forum you will find a wide range of areas covered that deal with the waterways, from boat stores, bridge information & more.

Everyone plays a part when you work on the water.

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Please note that you can read as a guest in the forum, but you will not be able to post, see screen shots & download files without becoming a member of RiverCharts.Info

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Helping to Improve The Waterways Inland Electronic Navigation Charts (IENCs) for Safety

Rivercharts.info 2008