Introduction to Electronic Chart Navigation: With an Annotated ECDIS Chart No. 1

There are two types of electronic charts: raster navigational charts (RNC) and electronic navigational charts (ENC). RNCs are exact copies of paper charts and their use underway comes naturally to navigators accustomed to paper charts. 

ENCs (also called vector charts), on the other hand, include much more information than an RNC; they allow user-selected display options that enhance safety and efficiency; and they are easier to keep up to date. But they do not look like traditional charts, and they do not behave like traditional charts. Navigation with ENCs is fundamentally different from navigation with paper charts or RNCs.

This book is intended to explain the content and use of ENCs so that these important charts of the future become as familiar to navigators as their paper chart forerunners. Chapter 1 is an overview of electronic charting; Chapter 2 covers the distinctions between RNC and ENC; Chapter 3 reviews basic navigation practice adapted to electronic charts; and Chapter 4 presents a complete library of all electronic chart symbols, which differ in many respects from their paper chart counterparts.

Electronic charting benefits all mariners, professional and recreational, large vessels and small, power and sail, racing and cruising. The unique information in this book should help mariners in any of these categories master the use of ENCs to enhance their safety and performance underway. There are many virtues of vector charts, but to take advantage of these, a new approach to “reading charts” is called for. This book explains and illustrates the process.

"Congratulations on producing such a useful and informative book to explain the intricacies of Electronic Navigational Charts and the systems needed to use them. You have produced a vital link in the progression from paper charts to contemporary navigation practices. In doing so David Burch has made a very significant and valuable contribution to safer navigation."(Chris Oxenbould, Rear Admiral RAN (Rtd), Former Chair of Australian Sailing National Safety Committee.)

"More and more people in the recreational sector are now using electronic charts but knowledge about the correct use and interaction with these charts has been sorely lacking. This book fills that void. There is a big difference between the use and presentation of raster and vector electronic charts. Most national hydrographic agencies seem to be transitioning to ENC's (vector based charts). These charts require much more interaction than rasters (RNCs) to get the most out of them and to ensure safe navigation.The subject of electronic charts is more complicated than one might imagine and this book by David Burch does a great job in explaining the minutia of working with them.For example, did you know that:*Two nations cannot each make an ENC of the same waters so there must be some agreement as to how this is done?*S-63 charts are just an encrypted form of S-57 charts?*Many ENCs have detailed light list information contained within them?*There are now only two symbols used for rocks on ENCs?This is not an exciting subject and so it's not always an easy read especially as there is a LOT of detail. Think of it as a reference book, like Bowditch, that you should have with you to ensure safe navigation. I recommend this book as essential reading for navigators and aspiring navigators who wish to, or are already, using electronic charts."(Will Oxley, Racing navigator, including four Round-the-World Races and 13 Sydney to Hobart races, author of Modern Race Navigation: Expedition Software in Action.)

"Burch takes the reader through a comparison of raster and ENC and points out the different ways they should be used. He then takes the reader through the process of using ENCs in practice from the basics of setting waypoints and routes, to using AIS and Radar overlays and current data. Any BWS reader who uses modern navigational devices such as the multifunction displays common to most boats will benefit from the knowledge and detail in Burch's Electronic Chart Navigation. It can keep you off the reefs."(Bluewater Sailing, August 2017)

"Great book! I wish I had had this resource ten years ago when just starting to craft OpenCPN. Would have saved me lots of effort pulling together the sometimes baffling set of standards and connected parts that is the current ENC landscape. Especially, having ENC Chart1 available in clear color printed form is a huge benefit. And the annotations are a bonus. Well done! I will heartily recommend this volume to OpenCPN users as the opportunity presents."(Dave Register, originator and lead developer of OpenCPN)

"I am impressed with David Burch's new book about vector charts, Introduction to Electronic Chart Navigation. A lot of old boaters like me cling to paper charts and their raster electronic equivalents, but vector charts are the future, and this book can help you understand them better."(Ben Ellison, Panbo Marine Electronics)