This Web Site was formed from an Ideal that everyone needs a helping hand in understanding the new Electronic River Charts (IENC-Inland Electronic Navigation Charts) From NOAA & The Army Corps of Engineers & help fix errors that a person may see on the new electronic charts. The electronic S57 charts are always being improved & updated from everyone's help passing on information.
The Electronic chart " TEAMS " from NOAA & The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) spend months putting together all the information into what we see, & they need our feedback on a job well done, as well as letting them know about errors. If no one speaks up about the IENC(Inland Electronic Navigation Charts) problem seen, then the problem can not be fixed.
This will be the way everyone working on the waters will see & use charting systems in the S57 format for years to come. Paper Charts will be placed on the shelf & start to build dust as the GPS units, computers take over the waterways & bring a new style, & group of people moving the product from the gulf coast to Canada, & from the Bays on the West Coast to the Eastern Seaboard.
Everyone who doesn't want to learn & understand how to use the new tools of the trade ( IENC ) & take the tools to use them as a plus, will be left behind.
Everyone has the power to help change the way we use the new tools of the trade, as well as keep the old tools alive. The old tools as in our eyes, ears, & most important Our Gut Feeling, that have guided people along the waterways for over a 100 years.
People need to understand the new tools will do nothing more than enhance our skills to make the waterways safer for everyone that use the Electronic S57 charts on our waterways if they use common sense when using the new style of tools.
Nothing can replace a good person's knowledge & skills. Make no mistake about it, learning the waterways the old school way & taking the new electronic tools can make for a very good skilled person, but using only the new electronic tools can cost that person in the long run.
The Electronic Chart readers do many things, but the main job the electronic chart reader does is read the information placed on the charts from NOAA & ACE! Everything else is a bonus the reader may do.
