I’ve have been noticing that many are solely relying on electronic navigation and not using paper charts or if done, incomplete and/or not correct. Has the “Navigator” been replaced by “GADGET”?
Our Capt.has us do both. It keeps a person in practice, I still like charts. I also have not taken my Ecdis yet so I am definitely no gadget expert. But it is probably best to be able to be proficient in both
When GPS units came out with the “highway” display that shows the ship’s relationship to the track that change eliminated the need to plot a fix on the paper chart to determine leeway, the course needed to regain track etc. At that point the paper chart plot lost it status as the primary method of navigaion and became more a back-up to the GPS. That change seemingly occurred without much notice or comment. ECDIS on the other hand has not had any impact on chart work.
I would feel uneasy without a chart. A lot of vessels at my company are being fitted with one ECDIS so we still need to maintain our charts. Most people aren’t comfortable with the ECDIS yet.
[QUOTE=acesouthcoast;166858]I would feel uneasy without a chart. A lot of vessels at my company are being fitted with one ECDIS so we still need to maintain our charts. Most people aren’t comfortable with the ECDIS yet.[/QUOTE]
Back in the day we used to plot a position on the chart to see where the ship was in relationship to the track and DR. If, when we switched charts, there was an error in the drawn track-line and the plotted fixes jumped from on track on the old chart to say, 1/2 mile north on the new one the mate on watch would alter course to regain the track because he was “left (or right) of track”.
The GPS “highway” display changed that. Instead of coming back to the track drawn on the chart the mate on watch would follow the “highway” and just plot the fixes parallel to the miss-plotted track-line because the mate can see on the GPS screen he is still “on track”.
The plot on the paper chart stopped being the primary way to solve nav problems (amount of leeway, COG, SOG, cross-track error, bearing to waypont, distance to waypoint) and became instead the back-up.
Thank you gentlemen, I do believe however that the electronics back up your paper. This was ingrained during my Navy stint. I understand of the improvements and complications of doing such however.
[QUOTE=Erek Sanchez;166860]Thank you gentlemen, I do believe however that the electronics back up your paper. This was ingrained during my Navy stint. I understand of the improvements and complications of doing such however. [/QUOTE]
Many mariners tend to trust the paper chart more then ECDIS however my observation is that that trust is often misplaced. Both the paper chart and the ECDIS are intended to represent the real world. The paper chart may seem more real, perhaps because we are accustomed to it, but it’s a representation, it’s no more the real world then is the ECDIS.
The question is which is more reliable. The weak link of the paper chart is the requirement for the mate to transfer the lat and long from the GPS (or less often bearings and ranges) onto the chart. This is where most errors occur. This errror can be caught with a good DR but otherwise it can go undetected. On the other hand the most common way for the ECDIS to fail in my experience is for the screen to go blank. An easy failure to spot.
The issue with paper charts is workload, the time, attention and effort required to maintain a good plot and the cognitive effort to aquire and maintain situational awareness.
there are vessels out there that are paperless
[QUOTE=powerabout;166864]there are vessels out there that are paperless[/QUOTE]
Not ready to go there. ECDIS is good for the mate standing an underway watch, it’s also good for laying down track-lines. However once the track is laid out on ECDIS I like to see it transfered onto the paper charts to double check. I’m not as confident with ECDIS displays as with the paper chart for planning or working in areas I"m not familiar.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;166865]Not ready to go there. ECDIS is good for the mate standing an underway watch, it’s also good for laying down track-lines. However once the track is laid out on ECDIS I like to see it transfered onto the paper charts to double check. I’m not as confident with ECDIS displays as with the paper chart for planning or working in areas I"m not familiar.[/QUOTE]
me too
I like some of the passage tools, min depth and distance etc they can highlight things you miss
ECDIS is awesome when your vessel is working on the spot marked, and you need new charts over an area. It takes 2 minutes to order and a further 5 minutes for it to arrive on the ECDIS update program we are using.
And 10 minutes every Saturday to keep the ECDIS up to date, got enough shit to keep up to date that I don’t need the hassle of keeping paper charts up to date also.
I think too there is an element of time management, or – more accurately – sufficient manning. With one officer on watch, or one officer and an AB, is there actually time to plot while underway? Sometimes yes, often no. In my experience.
Most of where I operate I’d be aground between plots, unless of course I do 1-3 minute plots. Impossible alone
When moving barges around its pretty much impossible to do any plots. Especially since i do all creek work. Take your eyes off the wheel for a second and your up on the rocks or hitting something.
What type of ECDIS software and hardware are people using? The vessel im working on have 2 X Tecdis T 2138A running Telko Tecdis software ver. 4.7.2.27.
Working on a paperless vessel is nice.
Nice article herefrom The Art of Dredging on ECDIS.
Some issuse not in the ship’s control with the switch to ECDIS is reliance on the GPS, loss of chart plotting skills.
An issue that is within the ship’s control is confidence in the soundings, The Fennica was authorized to go paperless.
When i was still on deck and had just got my first license i came back to work all proud of myself and started plotting our position with SOG and course to steer and all thatgood stuff. I showed the captain and he said, “thats great but we have auto pilot and GPS to correct set and drift”. Took the wind right out of my sails! Hahah!
I was filling in as 2nd mate a few years ago on a coastal wire tow from Newark to Port Everglades and the captain and chief mate were in a feud over the nav program and computers so i ended up just Using the chart, radar, and GPS to steer. I just drew out my course on the chart avoiding any high spots and wrecks and plotted every 15 minutes to maintain my position. It was a bit laborious but pretty fun and made the 4 hour watch go by quick.
ECDIS Charts contain the same information as paper charts, data comes from the same data soundings. The quick updating or corrections feature is convenient.
[QUOTE=acesouthcoast;166883]When i was still on deck and had just got my first license i came back to work all proud of myself and started plotting our position with SOG and course to steer and all thatgood stuff. I showed the captain and he said, “thats great but we have auto pilot and GPS to correct set and drift”. Took the wind right out of my sails! Hahah!
I was filling in as 2nd mate a few years ago on a coastal wire tow from Newark to Port Everglades and the captain and chief mate were in a feud over the nav program and computers so i ended up just Using the chart, radar, and GPS to steer. I just drew out my course on the chart avoiding any high spots and wrecks and plotted every 15 minutes to maintain my position. It was a bit laborious but pretty fun and made the 4 hour watch go by quick.[/QUOTE]
Oh, man. How were you able to keep up with Facebook, then?
Unfortunately we were out of range of service. I had a shitload of notifications and newsfeed to sort through when we got off canaveral and got a few bars. I should have towed through the cape hatteras slew to pick it up but the swell was a bit large and i had 5 layers out. This fuckin offshore towing thing really gets in the way of social media.