Bathymetric Electronic Nautical Charts - bENCs

Basically for the production of bENCs no other sources are required other then the results of the latest hydrographic survey data of the area of interest.  By means of appropriate conversion tools the survey source data is converted into such S-57 features used to encode bathymetric information: depth contours, depth areas, spot soundings.

The conversion process is not time consuming at all: Acquisition of hydrographic survey data belongs to the daily tasks of the relevant authorities (e.g. port authorities, waterway authorities). Thus no additional source data must be collected for the production of bENCs. The data of the latest survey campaigns – given it has been cleaned - can be processed within a couple of hours.

Finally the data is distributed to enrich the regular ENC based chart display with a detailed additional bathymetric layer in S-57 format. This will create an added value especially for all applications used for navigating in shallow waters, narrow channels, and for docking operations.

Presentation of bathymetric ENCs

Figure 1 shows a channel section of the River Elbe as shown in a regular ENC. The chart has been loaded in SevenCs ORCA Master ECS software. No detailed depth information is provided at all. A data query in the fairway would result in an indication of the maintained depth. 

In Figure 2 the blue line highlights the area for which detailed hydrographic survey data has been collected.  An additional bathymetric layer covering this area has been created and is shown in the chart display.

This data has been produced according to the SevenCs bENC concept. It provides depth information at 1 meter contour intervals. Much denser contours can be generated if required and the source data allows.

In addition to high resolution contours and depth areas selected soundings can be incorporated in bENC data sets as well.

Producers of bathymetric ENCs

bENCs can be produced by those authorities that are responsible for the data acquisition themselves. Thus the bathymetric layers can be updated immediately when the new survey data has been collected. They can even be produced on demand e.g.  for dedicated operations.

The official ENCs are not affected at all when bENCs are updated. The official ENCs and their regular updates are produced by the relevant Hydrographic Office and distributed via charts agents like SevenCs’ sister company Chartworld.

Summary

The bENC production workflow has been fully integrated in SevenCs  S-57 production tools. ORCA Master is the first ECS application allowing you to optionally enrich you official ENC data with high density bathymetry that has been produced according to the bathymetric ENC concept. Moreover bENC capability is supported by Marimatechs E-Sea Fix portable pilot system which integrates SevenCs technology.

Should you be interested to learn more about the production and handling of bathymetric ENCs feel free to contact us: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Publications

Hydro International, 2008, Applications Ready for Bathymetric ENCs

www.hydro-international.com/article_974