NavList:

Good job explaining that Lu. I just want to point out a few things so that we don't get muddled with the terms here.

ECDIS is a system that can only be called ECDIS if it meets 3 IMO benchmarks 1) the hardware needs to be type approved 2) it needs to use electronic charts verified, issued, and updated by a government, or official hydrographic institution eg NOAA or the British Admiralty (ie ECS under the S-57 standard) and 3) a complete 2nd unit in case of failure of the primary system

If you don't have these three things, you have an electronic chart system (ECS) and must legally augment them with paper charts.

As far as how they are made, they are done inside NOAA, and you are right, if there is an error in transcription about a Navaid you can get in trouble. That whole computer GIGO thing.

On a professional ECDIS system you can do all sorts of things. Buoys, BTW, will disappear as you zoom out, as will soundings so that the smaller scale charts don't get too cluttered. The nice thing about it is that as you zoom in, it will automatically load the large scale charts and all of that stuff appears again. You, as an operator, just need to make sure that you are displaying the correct scale of chart, just as a traditional navigator will go from an approach chart to a harbor chart when making his way into a port.

Jeremy
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