Welcome to the Open ECDIS Forum!

Effective communication, even in this period of ever-increasing connectedness, is a most difficult objective to realize. Without effective communication, good ideas lay fallow, misconceptions flourish and advances go unnoticed. The Open ECDIS Forum (OEF) is in place to provide an avenue for effective communication amongst the diverse group of stakeholders in the development and use of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) and Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC).

This diverse group includes the policy makers and technicians of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Member States whose pioneering efforts created the display, content and format standards for the ENC data they collect and disseminate. It includes the equipment manufacturers and software developers that seek and the type approval authorities that grant ECDIS certification according to International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Electro-technical Commission standards. It includes the chart agent and Regional ENC Coordinating Centers that distribute and/or validate the ENCs and most importantly the mariner who uses the ECDIS to plan and execute his voyage.

The coming into force on 1 July 2002 of new regulations within the Convention on Safety of Life at Sea Chapter V (SOLAS V) provides an exceptional opportunity to enhance the safety and efficiency of maritime operations. Regulation 19 accepts an ECDIS as meeting the chart carriage requirements for an intended voyage. The vision of electronically planning, monitoring, navigating and recording a passage is a reality, but there is much room for improvement and expansion before an ECDIS becomes a common tool on all ships, on all routes.

I encourage the use of the OEF for an active and constructive exchange of ideas. Your opinion of strengths and weaknesses is important. Your solution to a problem may be invaluable. Only by fielding a user-friendly, quality assured navigation system operational worldwide, will ECDIS fulfill its potential in achieving safe and efficient maritime operations. You have an important stake in this realization.