Raster Data Centre: Electronic Chart Processing for the Hydrographic Service, RAN

Abstract

During the past decade the maritime community has identified huge advantages in having electronic chart products available for navigation and allied applications, such as Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (C31) functions. Various standards for intelligent vector spatial data are in the process of implementation for both civil and military purposes. The Hydrographic Service Royal Australian Navy (HSRAN) is at the forefront in defining and adopting those standards, however, the standards are still crystallising and conversion will take many years. In 1995 Hydrographic Sciences Australia Pty Ltd (HSA) and HSRAN undertook a feasibility study to provide a bridge to the forthcoming vector chart regime by defining and developing an electronic raster chart data product (now named Seafarer). HSA however, conceptualised a more substantial facility known as the Raster Data Centre (ROC) which not only created and maintained the Seafarer product, but also provided many other advantages and cost savings to HSRAN. The then RAN Hydrographer, CDRE Wllis, agreed to commit to this concept and contracted HSA to design, develop and operate the Raster Data Centre. This article is an edited version of the joint submission (submitted in early 1998) by HSA and HSRAN, which was judged worthy of receiving the BHP Engineering Pty. Ltd. and MSIA Technology Research and Development Award, 1998 in the Institutional Category. The raster charts in the Seafare® product also won Gold in the 1998 MSIA Cartographic Excellence Award. A follow up article is planned which will discuss the experiences of the HSRAN in marketing the Seafare® product and which will also introduce the cartographic complexities of producing Australia's first authorised vector Electronic Navigation Charts.