It is probable that Congress will require oceangoing ships in US ports to use Differential GPS (DGPS) and electronic charts once DGPS is available on all coasts of the US, which is currently scheduled for completion by the end of 1996. The type of electronic chart currently envisaged, the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) under development by the IMO & IHO, is unsuitable for those ports which are entered through long dredged channels – a category that includes Houston, Gramercy and New Orleans, the three ports which handled the most foreign tonnage in 1991. A different type of electronic chart has been in daily use in such channels, with microwave positioning, since 1984; the combination of DGPS with such a software package has been called an Electronic Navigation System (ENS) and differs from ECDIS in that the ENS is designed to supplement the published chart, not replace it. The paper suggests that the utility of ECDIS would be enhanced if its specifications were modified to allow the entry of the data files used by the ENS, thus giving ECDIS a similar capability for blind navigation in confined waters. Standardization of the current data format would also permit alternative versions of ENS to be developed.

In the 1990s, digital maps are being used for a wide variety of applications. In the world of digital road maps, the most notable applications are in the area of theIntelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). In the USA IVHS is involved with five basic interrelated applications:

(i) Advanced Traffic Management Systems.

(ii) Advanced Vehicle Control Systems.

(iii) Commercial Vehicle Operations.

(iv) Advanced Public Transportation Systems.

(v) Advanced Traveller Information Systems.

This paper presents a prototype ECDIS as developed by the Research Group on ECDIS (RGE) of Dalian Maritime University (DMU). It describes the configuration, the functions and the characteristics of the system. The results of sea and land trials are also presented.

There is a great sense of movement and progress in navigation today. The excitement lies in the ability to do things which were not possible with traditional media or at best were difficult and time-consuming to achieve. So this paper is not about the desirability nor the timescale of the ECDIS (Electronic Chart and Display Information System) replacing paper charts for primary navigation. It is about the flexibility and creative power opened up by new technology.