Automated Paper Charts
Learn how we are modernizing our Paper Charts production for safer navigation.
We are piloting our first Automated Paper Chart, 4654 - Lark Harbour and York Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador. You can access the new chart via your existing chart dealer. Find a dealer.
If you’d like to provide feedback on the new Automated Paper Chart, please contact us at: chsinfo@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
About
Traditional Paper Charts have been crucial navigational tools that take a lot of time and energy to create. Today, Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs), digital navigational maps, have gained popularity among mariners. Despite this shift, some mariners continue to prefer the familiarity of Paper Charts.
Automated Paper Charts combine the familiarity and convenience of traditional Paper Charts with the benefits of ENCs. These printed nautical charts look the same but are created differently. Automated Paper Charts are printed nautical charts that are produced using International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standards for Electronic Navigational Charts. Traditional paper charts are manually compiled by cartographers, a process that can be extremely time consuming.
Benefits
The benefits of using Automated Paper Charts include:
- Data Accuracy: They are derived from precise Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs), ensuring accurate and up-to-date information for safe navigation.
- Familiarity: They maintain the traditional look and feel of paper charts, making it easier for mariners to transition from traditional methods to modern digital tools.
- Convenience: They are easily accessible, just like traditional paper charts, allowing for a familiar navigation experience.
- Speed: They can be generated easily, and updates can be applied quickly, so that mariners have faster access to the latest information.
- Easy Integration: They can be used alongside electronic navigational tools to offer a more flexible navigation solutions for mariners.
Differences
You may notice some layout differences between traditional and Automated Paper Charts. Some of the changes you may notice include:
- Title block: The title block is found on the side panel instead of within the chart itself.
- Symbols: Symbols on the product may appear smaller than before. All symbols continue to comply with IHO S-4 standards and use INT1 symbology, the IHO standard included in the Canadian Hydrographic Services' Canadian Chart 1: Symbols, Abbreviations and Terms publication.
- Data Source Information: The traditional data source classification diagram, which describes the chart's origin and timing of data collection, has been replaced with the IHO Category Zone of Confidence (CATZOC) diagram to show how chart data adheres to IHO S67 standards.
- Future releases will see additional changes in the marginalia such as a new chart naming convention for these automated paper charts and future compliance with S-101 ENC symbology.
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