IC-ENC Technical Conference 2016

We are pleased to confirm the IC-ENC Technical Conference (TC01) will be taking place from Wednesday 27th April to Friday 29th April 2016. The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn, Taunton, UK.

The Technical Conference will be an excellent opportunity for technical staff from all IC-ENC members' offices to meet and discuss any ENC production or data capture issues that they face. It will also be a great way to build working relationships and learn from colleagues with similar experiences in cartography and software usage. IC-ENC will also use this conference to take the opportunity to ensure all our members are aware of recent developments and the assistance that IC-ENC can provide.

Invitations have been sent via email, and we are looking forward to receiving your replies by Monday 15th February. If you did not receive an email invitation, please download the following documents:

descriptionIC-ENC Technical Conference Invitation.doc

descriptionTC01 Attendance and Travel Arrangement Form.doc

The draft agenda is available to download here:

descriptionTC01 Technical Conference Draft Agenda.doc

Please note that we openly invite attendees to submit topics for discussion or to present to the group.

We look forward to receiving your replies.

If you have any further questions, please email Liz Hahessy on Liz.Hahessy@ic- enc.org.


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January

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely break, and you've come back feeling refreshed and ready for a 2016 full of fresh possibilities.

We are pleased to announce that 10 ENCs from the Panama Maritime Authority were released on 22nd December 2015 (week 52 exchange set). This is an exciting time for the Panama Maritime Authority, and we look forward to working with them further in due course.

We look forward to welcoming two delegates from NOAA, who will be the new IC- ENC North America Validators, at the end of January. We also look forward to welcoming back the two delegates from the Diretoria de Hidrografia e Navegação (DHN) in Brazil, who previously spent three weeks with us at IC-ENC HQ in November 2015. These four delegates will be spending three months at IC-ENC HQ on secondment in order to provide IC-ENC Validation and Regional Office training for when they start their roles at the new IC-ENC Latin America and IC-ENC North America regional offices.

In addition, we will be welcoming a delegation from Venezuela to IC-ENC HQ from 7th - 16th March 2016. We look forward to spending time with the delegation to discuss ENC Production and ENC Validation matters.

We are currently in the process of organising the IC-ENC Technical Conference, which will be held in Taunton, UK during the week commencing 25th April 2016. The conference will run over the course of three days, with one main topic listed for discussion each day. These topics will include S-57, S-100 and S-101 and the IC- ENC Validation Service and Technology. The proposed format is:

Day 1: S-57:

• Report from IHO ENC Working Group
• Sharing of best practice encoding techniques (recent changes)
• Changes and publication of S-58 version xx: what does this mean to the encoder?
• Optional session: eGlobe ECDIS training (including installation process).  Applicable to those members who have not already received the software form  IC-ENC. This will complete the ECDIS roll out to all members

Day 2: S-100 & S-101:

• Report from IHO S101 Working Group, including timeline
• Review of each member national position with respect to the new ENC standard. (A questionnaire will have been completed by each member prior to the Conference)
• Establish parameters for IC-ENC S-101 support to members
• Set plan for IC-ENC to develop the concept further to present to SC17

Day 3: IC-ENC Validation Service and Technology - Changes and Improvements our members need to know:

• IC-ENC Global Operating model (role of HQ and regional offices)
• IC-ENC Errors Database improvements
• IC-ENC website and support information (log in area)
• Data Transfer methodology
• Plans for 2016 Bronze IC-ENC ENC Validation courses (SC decision SC16/9)
• Plans 2017 and 2018: Discuss future of the TEWG/Technical Conference format/frequency/structure – what will give most benefit to members.

As we are expecting a high level of attendance, IC-ENC will cover the travel and accommodation costs for one delegate from each member HO. If an HO wishes to send more than one delegate, we will ask the HO to cover the travel and accommodation costs for the additional delegates. The venue, and further details will be provided as soon as possible.


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December

With huge thanks to the IC-ENC Technical Team and the Novo systems support team, we are happy to announce that the migration to the cloud environment has been a success, and we have now been working on our new operating systems for a month. The next stage is to enable IC-ENC Australia to gain access to the IC-ENC cloud environment, allowing the two offices to operate more efficiently with one another. Both IC-ENC Latin America and IC-ENC North America will follow in 2016.

This month, we had inbound visits from Egypt and Malta. It was a great opportunity to spend some time with both delegations discussing IC-ENC's ENC production and validation services.

Last week, we attended a talk held by Rachel Medley from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This was a great opportunity to learn more about the different divisions within NOAA, and a result we are really excited for the development and launch of IC-ENC North America, and our working partnership with NOAA to go forward in 2016.

We currently have two delegates from the Diretoria de Hidrografia e Navegação (DHN) in Brazil at IC-ENC HQ for a three week secondment. The aim of this secondment is to provide IC-ENC Validation training for the two delegates, who will be working in the IC-ENC Latin America office once it is launched in early 2016. The two delegates will be spending their time at IC-ENC HQ learning about all of IC- ENC's operating processes, particularly the ENC Validation processes which they will be performing back in the IC-ENC Latin America office.

We continue to experience a high validation workload, with average weekly exchange sets of 160 ENCs.

IC-ENC will remain open throughout the Christmas period, and we will respond to email queries as quickly as possible during this time. The calendar below shows which days the IC-ENC UK office will be open:




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Slovenia releases first ENC

IC-ENC is excited to announce the release of the first Slovenian ENC, produced by the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia. This ENC will be released to the IC-ENC VARs for distribution on 6th November 2015.

Although the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia started the production of ENCs a few years ago, and completed a substantial amount of work, they were unable to validate it properly and issue ENCs formally without being a member of a RENC. Since joining IC-ENC in July 2014 as IC-ENC's 31st member nation, the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia has benefited from IC-ENC's full support to develop its in-house ENC production capacity through IC-ENC's Independent ENC Validation, Production Support and Capacity Building (training) services. IC-ENC prides itself on the provision of assistance to its members, regardless of when they joined or their ENC production capability. IC-ENC's ENC Production services include direct contact with the IC-ENC Validation Team via email, telephone and Skype. The IC-ENC Validation Team strive to provide timely responses to any issues, queries or general feedback from members.

Above all, the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia has greatly benefitted from attending IC-ENC's International ENC Validation Training Course. Matija Klanjšček, Cartographer, attended the training course in February 2015, along with nine other delegates from different Hydrographic Offices. Matija thoroughly enjoyed the training opportunity, highlighting that he has noticed significant improvements to his understanding of ENC production and ENC validation processes. He also emphasized how great it was to meet the IC-ENC staff and representatives of other Hydrographic Offices to exchange information and experiences. As a result, he was more than happy to present his feedback to the IC-ENC Steering Committee during this year's meeting held back in September.

IC-ENC has delivered three International ENC Validation training courses during 2015, held in Taunton (UK), Wollongong (Australia) and Panama (Central America). The training course provides its members with the knowledge and skills required to perform data validation at their home ENC production offices. The training course runs for a period of two weeks, and runs through the entire ENC Validation process from start to finish, as well as providing an overview of IC-ENC's additional three core services: ENC production support, ENC distribution and ENC revenue management. One specific element of the course is designed to enable each user to gain the maximum benefit from the ChartWorld eGlobe G2 ECDIS, which IC-ENC has selected as a tool to provide its 38 member nations with to supplement ENC production and validation processes.

IC-ENC will be holding three further training courses in 2016.

Following the release of the first ENC, the Port of Koper (Band 5), Slovenia plan to continue with ENC production covering the wider area of Bay of Koper (Band 4), and eventually covering the whole territorial waters of the Republic of Slovenia with another ENC of a smaller scale.


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November

A shorter update this month, but I will start with some good news!

We are excited to announce the release of the first Slovenian ENC; a great achievement for the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia. This ENC will be released on 6th November 2015.

IC-ENC prides itself on the provision of assistance to its members, regardless of when they joined or the extent of their ENC production capability. It is fantastic to see how well the ENC production staff at the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia have benefited from IC-ENC's Independent ENC Validation and ENC Production Support services, as well as IC-ENC's International ENC Validation Training Course. As part of their production plan, the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia intend to release a further 4 ENCs during 2016.

James has just returned from the PRIMAR Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting in Paris, where he was briefed on PRIMAR's developments over the past year. As agreed at the last Steering Committee (SC16), the Open Sessions will now cease. Instead, a series of more regular meetings will take place between the Chairs and Management of IC-ENC and PRIMAR, with written reports submitted following each PAC and SC meeting.

We also had a visit from the Turkish Hydrographic Office last week to discuss the next Steering Committee meeting, which Turkey has kindly offered to host, as well as to spend some time with the team at IC-ENC HQ.

Richard Northover, IC-ENC Commercial Manager, has finished preparing the Q3 sales reports and new ENC wholesale pricing list, both of which will be distributed to members imminently.

The IC-ENC Technical Team have been very busy working on the new technology developments, and carrying out various forms of testing to ensure that the systems are ready to be implemented. This is an exciting time for IC-ENC as we migrate to a Cloud-based working environment, whilst facilitating consistency between all IC- ENC regional offices, and the growth of IC-ENC as a whole.


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IC-ENC supports its members with training and ChartWorld ECDIS software to enhance ENC quality

IC-ENC has selected the new ChartWorld eGlobe G2 ECDIS as a tool to provide their 37 member nations with to supplement ENC production and validation processes. This will give each member Hydrographic Office the opportunity to load their ENCs into an ECDIS in order that the maritime user's perspective can be considered and to check its interoperability with adjacent data.

The SevenCs display engine inside the ChartWorld eGlobe G2 ECDIS is used by 30% of all ECDIS and ECS users within the SOLAS market, allowing IC-ENC and its members to make a representative data assessment on a user friendly ECDIS, whilst following the latest performance standards. The ChartWorld eGlobe G2 ECDIS software will be supplied to those member nations following attendance on IC-ENC's International ENC Validation training course.

IC-ENC has delivered three International ENC Validation training courses this year, each held in a different part of the world. The first training course was held in Taunton, UK, in February 2015. The second was held in Wollongong, Australia, in May, and the third course has just been delivered in Panama, Central America during September. The course provides its members with the knowledge and skills required to perform data validation at their home ENC production offices. The training course runs for a period of two weeks, and runs through the entire ENC Validation process from start to finish, as well as providing an overview of IC-ENC's additional three core services: ENC production support, ENC distribution and ENC revenue management. One specific element of the course is designed to enable each user to gain the maximum benefit from the ChartWorld eGlobe G2 ECDIS.

The Slovenian Hydrographic Office commented: "The most useful parts of the course were being able to get to know the whole process of validation from start to finish, and meeting IC-ENC staff members and representatives of other Hydrographic Office to exchange information and experiences amongst ourselves".

IC-ENC will be holding three further training courses in 2016, for which a further ECDIS delivery schedule plan will be implemented.


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September/October

It feels like it's been a long time since my last blog, so I have plenty of IC-ENC activities to update you all on!

Mike Hawes, IC-ENC Course Trainer/Data Manager has just delivered the third and final IC-ENC ENC Validation Training Course of 2015 (bronze level). The course was held in Panama for a period of two weeks, from 14th – 25th September. The course was delivered to 18 delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama Canal Authority, Panama Maritime Authority, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, United States, and Venezuela.

On behalf of the whole IC-ENC team, I'd like to say a big thank you to the Panama Canal Authority, in particular Jaime Rodriguez, for offering IC-ENC their training facilities to host the training course.

Panama Training Course Delegates and IC-ENC Course Trainer, Mike Hawes

Richard Northover, IC-ENC Commercial Manager, attended the World ECDIS Day event, which was held in Hamburg on 16th September. Richard briefed three groups of shipping companies, OEM reps and members of the shipping community. He also gave a joint RENC presentation with Hans Lauritzen, PRIMAR Director, which was well received.

The annual IC-ENC Steering Committee meeting took place on 7th and 8th September in Munich, Germany. We had a record number of 51 attendees, representing 31 out of our 36 member Hydrographic offices. The meeting was very successful, with some good discussions and decisions made, and the minutes from the meeting have now been circulated for review. If you have any comments or questions regarding the minutes, please email me on laura.tyzack@ic-enc.org (cc: therenc@ic-enc.org) by Friday 2nd October.

Steering Committee 16 Participants

We are excited to announce our latest IC-ENC member developments: Israel, Oman and NOAA (US). The Survey of Israel (SOI) joined as our 36th member in August. We will be working with SOI to develop its in-house production capabilities in order to assist in the production and maintenance of their ENC data. The Oman National Hydrographic Office (ONHO) joined as our 37th member during the Steering Committee meeting. ONHO currently has seven ENCs, and IC-ENC will provide further support in order to assist the development of its in-house ENC production capabilities. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have entered into the initial phase of becoming our 38th member. This decision was reached following the Steering Committee's endorsement of the proposal to establish a fourth IC-ENC regional office in Washington, DC, USA, as well as the approval of NOAA's intended membership. The membership arrangements and inclusion of the new office into IC-ENC's global operating framework are now subject to further analysis and development by both the NOAA and IC-ENC teams. Further announcements will be made in due course.

Lastly, whilst we're on the subject of IC-ENC regional offices, I thought I'd take this opportunity to update you all on the progress being made at the IC-ENC Latin America regional office in Niteroi, Brazil. The office accommodation has now been established, and the appointed staff members are now working in the office and taking part in regular online meetings with IC-ENC HQ. The two appointed Data Validators have just completed the bronze level training course in Panama, and formal gold level training is planned to be held in Taunton at a later date.

IC-ENC Latin America Staff

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IC-ENC and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (NOAA) to develop a collaborative partnership

IC-ENC is proud to announce that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have entered into the initial phase of becoming the 38th national hydrographic office to join its rapidly increasing family of members.

The 2015 IC-ENC annual Steering Committee meeting in Munich, Germany approved NOAA's intended membership of IC-ENC and endorsed a proposal for NOAA and IC-ENC to establish a fourth regional office of IC-ENC in Washington, DC, USA.

The membership arrangements, and the inclusion of the new office into IC-ENC's global operating framework, are now subject to detailed analysis and development by the NOAA and IC-ENC teams. Further announcements will follow as the IC-ENC North America office develops full operating capability during 2016.

NOAA currently produces and maintains over 1000 ENCs. IC-ENC's Production Support including Capacity Building (Training) and Independent Validation services will be delivered to NOAA via the IC-ENC North America office. The NOAA ENCs will form part of the global IC-ENC folio, and be included in IC-ENC's ENC Distribution service, achieved through the main IC-ENC office in the UK,

IC-ENC is looking forward to working in partnership with NOAA and assisting in sustaining this important ENC coverage.








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IC-ENC Welcomes OMAN as its 37th Member

IC-ENC welcomes Oman National Hydrographic Office (ONHO), which has become the 37th national Hydrographic Office to join its rapidly increasing family of members. This was achieved by the signing of documentation during IC-ENCs annual Steering Committee meeting, in 2015 taking place in Munich, Germany.

ONHO currently has 7 ENCs, and IC-ENC intends to provide further support in order to assist and develop its in-house ENC production capacity. This will be achieved through IC-ENC's Production Support, Independent Validation and Capacity Building (Training) services.

IC-ENC is looking forward to working in partnership with ONHO and assisting in the development of this important ENC coverage.










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World ECDIS Day 2015

IC-ENC is looking forward to presenting at World ECDIS Day, which will be held in Hamburg on 16th September 2015. It will be a great opportunity to exchange ideas, evaluate problems and explore future visions related to e-navigation and ECDIS.


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