Taking ECDIS very seriously
As with all electronic equipment, ECDIS can go wrong In little more than three months we will see the carriage requirements for the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) begin its phased introduction. ECDIS is a notable advance to be welcomed by all of those who believe that eNavigation is a step in the right direction, making navigation yet more precise.But like all navigational advances from the introduction of the gyro-compass to satnav and advanced radars, the latest improvement comes with a number of important "health warnings". As with all these advances, complete reliance is to be avoided and the practices of good seamanship, which insist on alternative systems for checking, must still be followed assiduously. Training is clearly essential, both in terms of the generic understanding of the systems and complete familiarity with that aboard ship.As with all electronic equipment, ECDIS can go wrong and too much reliance will lead to a complacent attitude that is unprepared for the (hopefully rare) incident. Pilots are already reporting occasional instances of ECDIS errors and anomalies, which may be difficult to detect in the open sea but become much more obvious with the ship in restricted waters and the scale of ...
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