ABSTRACT
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental consultative and technical organization established in 1921 to support the safety of navigational, and to contribute to the protection of the marine environment. One of its primary roles is to establish and maintain appropriate standards to assist in the proper and efficient use of hydrographic data and information. (Ward et al. 2009)
This paper will describe the genesis of S-101 the new Electronic Navigational Chart Product Specification including its evolution from S-57 and S-52 – “Specifications for Chart Content and Display Aspects of ECDIS.” The primary purpose of the paper is to communicate with the ENC user community the activities underway at the IHO in the development of this product specification and promote comment and the involvement from the maritime user community. The intent is not to develop S-101 in a vacuum, but to actively solicit input from software and equipment manufacturers and the ultimate enduser: the mariner.
