The Display

■ The ECDIS display shows a vector chart with the real-time Global
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position of own ship
superimposed on it, the display usually includes the ship’s course
line and a heading vector that indicates where the ECDIS predicts
the ship to be.
■ This vector is based on time and the value can be adjusted by the
officer, alongside the chart display is a panel which shows numerical
navigational information, with appropriate settings, the ECDIS will
provide excellent avoidance information and alarms for all charted
hazards.
■ Modes of display
The three modes of display set by the IMO are:
1. Display base
2. Standard display
3. All Other Information display
The display base where information is permanently on the screen and nothing can be removed from it.
It is not intended to provide sufficient information for safe navigation under appropriate circumstances
and should only be used to gain an overview of an area, information as below:
1. Coastline (high water).
2. Own ship’s safety contour.
3. Isolated underwater dangers of depths less than the safety contour which lie within the safe waters
defined by the safety contour.
4. Isolated dangers which lie within the safe water defined by the safety contour, such as fixed
structures, overhead wires, etc.
5. Scale, range and north arrow.
6. Units of depth and height; and
7. Display mode.
Standard display is intended to provide the minimum amount of
information for safe navigation and route planning. It shows everything in
the base display but adds boundaries of fairways, buoys and other aids to
navigation as below:
1. display base
2. drying line
3. buoys, beacons, other aids to navigation and fixed structures
4. boundaries of fairways, channels, etc.
5. visual and radar conspicuous features
Standard display is intended to provide the minimum amount of
information for safe navigation and route planning. It shows everything in
the base display but adds boundaries of fairways, buoys and other aids to
navigation as below:
6. prohibited and restricted areas
7. chart scale boundaries
8. indication of cautionary notes
9. ships‟ routing systems and ferry routes
10.archipelagic sea lanes.
The All Other Information display includes everything in the standard display and additional
information that can be displayed individually on demand by the watchkeeping officer, including
spot soundings, place names and other navigational information such as:
1. spot soundings
2. submarine cables and pipelines
3. details of all isolated dangers
4. details of aids to navigation
5. contents of cautionary notes
6. ENC edition date and most recent chart update number
7. magnetic variation
8. place names
■ The ambient lighting on the bridge varies between the extremes of bright
sunlight, which can wash out information on the ECDIS display, and
night, when the light emitted by the display has to be low enough that it
does not affect the mariner’s night vision.
■ The colors and symbols specifications of S-52 have been designed to
meet these more difficult requirements. ECDIS provides a negative image
of the chart at night, using a dark background in place of the white
background of the paper chart, in order not to impair night vision.
Three predefined color schemes are provided:
■ Day (white background)
■ Dusk (black background)
■ Night (black background)
Settings and Safety Functions
■ The ship’s dimensions and manoeuvring characteristics such as its
turning circle are usually set up during installation of the ECDIS.
■ ECDIS safety settings must be configured correctly to ensure that charted
objects are identified by the ECDIS as dangers or hazards to navigation.
■ These parameters are referred to as chart alert parameters and are set by
the ECDIS operator.
■ The vessel safety depth, own ship look-ahead, chart alert parameters,
navigation parameters, optimization parameters and other safety
functions in ECDIS are essential to ensure the ship's navigational safety.
■ If configured correctly, they will alarm to warn the ECDIS operator that the vessel
is approaching shallow waters or other hazards to navigation so that timely action
can be taken to avoid them.
■ There is no such thing as a false alarm in ECDIS and the ECDIS operator is
required to acknowledge, interrogate and understand all alarms, warnings and
cautions.
■ To maximize the efficiency of these safety functions, standard procedures for
setting them should be developed incorporating (where necessary) the guidance in
this section.
■ It must be noted that when conducting route planning, the safety depth and safety
contour values may differ at various stages of the voyage and this must be
considered during the planning phase.
Two colour scheme
In the two colour scheme in the daylight presentation, the deep area, safe for
navigation, is white.
The shallow unsafe area is deep blue. There is a solid dark line between the
two.
This display indicates where the ship can safely go and where it is not safe
to go, provided the system has been set up correctly for the planned passage.
In the night setting the safe area is usually black and the shallow area light
grey with a solid light coloured line between them
Four colour scheme
Many ECDIS also have a four colour scheme which gives a more detailed picture and is useful in
confined waters.
In daylight presentation it shows the deep water as white, with a light blue for navigable water.
The non-navigable water is shown as a deeper blue with dark blue for very shallow water.
The contour values depend on the chart’s database.
The colour area boundaries depend entirely on the ship’s depth settings
In the night setting the colours are usually reversed but still show clearly the four areas.
The watchkeeping officer must select the display that is appropriate to the situation. On most
ECDIS the brightness of the display is adjustable by the user.
Safety Depth and Safety Contour
The safety depth is a value entered by the ECDIS operator based on the
requirements throughout the passage plan and any further requirements of the
Master and/or standing orders.
Setting the safety depth defines which depths are a danger to navigation. A
depth equal to or less than the safety depth is highlighted on the chart in bold
type (Black) and other depths will be shown in grey when the display of spot
soundings is turned on (ENCs only).
The safety depth is a visual indication of the limit of navigable water.
The safety contour value distinguishes between safe and unsafe water and
generates alarms and warnings against the planned and monitored route.
Safety Depth and Safety Contour
The safety contour is highlighted on the chart with a bold line with grey color usually
(ENCs only).
If, with an automatic change of ENC cell under the ship position the previously
selected safety contour becomes unavailable, the safety contour alarm is generated.
ECDIS operators must be familiar with which contour the ENC is selecting when the
ship transfers between ENCs.
The safety contour is automatically set as equal to the next deepest available contour.
Calculation of the safety depth and safety contour is required at all stages of the
voyage to give the necessary under keel clearance (UKC).
Safety Depth and Safety Contour
It is the responsibility of the Master to determine these during the passage
planning stage.
If a safety contour other than the standard setting is required, it should be
recommended for approval for a particular route at the briefing stage.
Once approved by the Master, the safety depth and safety contour should be
documented in the passage plan as required.
The authorised safety depth and safety contour must always be known to the
ECDIS operator.
Safety Depth and Safety Contour
The safety contour is calculated by adding the ship’s current draft
to additional factors which include:
■ a required under keel clearance
■ a safety margins
■ allowances for squat, height of tide and the expected sea state
Safety Counter = Draft + UKC + Squat – Ht. of Tide
Safety Depth and Safety Contour
The safety contour value is crucial to the anti-grounding capability
and alarms of the ECDIS.
It should be discussed and agreed by the Master and watchkeeping
officer for all legs of all voyages during route planning.
All watchkeeping officers must check the value of the safety
contour when they come on watch, as they need to understand
why the setting has the numerical value it has been given.
Shallow and Deep Contour
The shallow and deep contours do not alarm and are for
information purposes only, however, although it does not provide
an indication of a dangerous depth contour, the deep contour can
be useful in displaying contour information that has significance
for ship handling.
For example, if the 50 m contour is the onset depth for squat, then
the deep contour setting could be set accordingly to give an
indication of the 50 m contour to the ECDIS operator.
Shallow and Deep Contour
The shallow and deep contours provide the following:
■ Shallow contour - Shades the area from the shallow contour to
zero depth
■ deep contour - Shades the area below the deep contour (above is
white).
Shallow and Deep Contour
If all contours are correctly configured and four shades is selected, then the
following depth information is shaded and distinguishable from each other:
■ Zero to shallow contour (dark blue)
■ shallow contour to safety contour (light blue)
■ safety contour to deep contour (light grey)
■ greater than deep contour (white).
Shallow and Deep Contour
If four shades are not selected, two shades will be displayed instead, showing
only:
■ Zero to safety contour (blue)
■ greater than safety contour (white).
On many ECDIS there is also a deep contour which indicates a depth below
which safety is assured, e.g. at twice the maximum draft or more, the shallow
contour could be set as the draft of the ship as this contour will determine the
darkest non-navigable area of the chart in daylight presentation, the two shades
setting may be of benefit to the ECDIS operator when navigating using the dusk
or night palette as the contrast between safe and unsafe water and ARPA and AIS
targets is improved.
Look-ahead
The look-ahead area is intended for setting the size of the area that will be used for the
chart data analysis and for the generation of the anti-grounding alarms, alarm alerts and
navigational alarms.
The trigger points for alarms and warnings are defined by a look-ahead projected ahead,
stern, port and starboard of the vessel.
When calculating and configuring the size of the look-ahead area, consideration must be
given to the size, manoeuvrability and location of the vessel.
The look-ahead area must be sufficient to allow the ECDIS operator to acknowledge,
assess and take appropriate action.
The Master should only modify or adapt look-ahead settings after careful risk
assessment.
Man Overboard
In the case of a man overboard (MOB), the MOB function is
available on all ECDIS systems and all ECDIS operators must be
competent in the use of this function on the specific equipment
installed.
Activating the MOB function creates a reference point in ECDIS
and a constant range and bearing from the ship is provided.
If the MOB is not being tracked visually, ECDIS should be used
to direct the lookout bearing, although the position of the MOB
may not take into account set and drift.
Man Overboard
Any time delay between the MOB entering the water and activation of the
MOB marker should be established as quickly as possible and some systems
may allow the ECDIS operator to apply this offset to the MOB marker.
If visual contact has been lost and a significant delay in activating the ship's
MOB marker has occurred, the ECDIS operator should estimate the likely
position of the MOB against the primary vessel track history.
Man Overboard
Note that the MOB function may not provide a prediction of set and drift
and so tidal information must be known to the ECDIS operator.
When a MOB is reported after an unknown interval, the ECDIS operator
should be familiar with, and may wish to utilize, the search and rescue
(SAR) functionality on ECDIS.
Alarms and indications
An important element of the ECDIS is its alarm and
indication system. These are defined by IMO as:
■ Alarm An alarm or alarm system which announces by
audible means, or audible and visual means, a condition
requiring attention.
■ Indication Visual indication giving information about
the condition of a system or equipment.
Presentation of Data
■ Every ECDIS operator should assess the quality of information
being viewed.
■ This means ensuring settings and procedures consistently
provide full relevant safety data and that information is
mirrored on all bridge ECDIS terminals.
■ When an ENC is loaded for display (either manually or
automatically) the ECDIS operator must be aware of its datum
and update status, which should be checked by cell information.
■ The ECDIS operators should also check all cautions, warnings
and quality of data by use of category zone of confidence
(CATZOC) details (or source data diagrams for RNCs) for
charts in use.
■ CATZOCs should be used when risk assessing the quality and
accuracy of the ENC as part of the passage plan.
■ Where CATZOC is lower, the ECDIS operator may need to
increase all safety margins and reduce speed.
ECDIS Overlays
Many ECDIS have the potential to show overlays such as:
■ Radar and ARPA/target tracking information
■ AIS data
■ NAVTEX
■ Temporary and Preliminary Notices to Mariners (T&Ps), e.g. Admiralty
Information Overlay (AIO)
Watchkeeping officers need to be very cautious about overlaying further
navigational information on the ECDIS because the screen may become
crowded and essential information may be lost in clutter.
The ECDIS is neither designed nor approved for collision
avoidance. It should be used for navigation and depth monitoring,
while radar should be used for collision avoidance.
In coastal waters, overlaying the radar picture on the ECDIS for a
brief time can be helpful in checking positional accuracy.
Use of RADAR Information Overlay (RIO)
In some ECDIS, the radar image can be transferred via an overlay function to the
ECDIS display, so that chart and radar information are together on one screen.
However, watchkeeping officers need to bear in mind that the radar image may
clutter the screen, obscuring chart data, and that features are often difficult to
distinguish on radar.
On some ECDIS types, the transparency of the radar overlay can be adjusted to
reduce its obscuring of the other data.
In any case the overlay should never be left on continuously, as this may reduce
situational awareness.
Use of RADAR Information Overlay (RIO)
The radar overlay offers a quick cross check of own ship’s position with
ground fixed objects such as coastlines, which may be very useful in
confined waters.
However, caution is needed as not all coastlines give a meaningful radar
image.
Any offset may be in one direction or rotational.
If there is an offset, the watchkeeping officer must immediately resolve the
problem using visual or other fixes to both determine the ship’s position and
identify the defective sensor.
Use of RADAR Information Overlay (RIO)
Using a radar overlay helps the watchkeeping officer see more clearly the
safe water available for manoeuvring around targets.
Combining the targets with chart information may also make it easier to
identify them visually.
Other advantages include being able to understand the position of the targets
relative to buoys and channels more easily and helping to reduce human
errors in transferring identification from one system to another.
Use of RADAR Information Overlay (RIO)
When using RIO ocean navigation and coastal navigation, the RIO should
be available in order to check fixes and at any other times required by the
OOW, the RIO should be set at an appropriate colour and transparency to
enable an assessment of correlation between coastline and the RIO without
causing excessive clutter or covering safety critical information.
Use of RADAR Information Overlay (RIO)
To facilitate the display of a radar overlay on ENCs, the IHO specifications recommend that hydrographic
offices set the compilation scales of their ENCs to be consistent with the standard radar range scales as
shown in the following table:
ARPA/Target tracking
On many ECDIS types the ARPA or target tracking information can be
overlaid, but the same reservations apply as for radar.
The overlay will show the closest point of approach (CPA) and time to
closest point of approach (TCPA) on the display.
Only the tracked targets will be displayed, so what is seen on the ECDIS is
an incomplete picture of the traffic situation.
The watchkeeping officer must be extremely careful using this type of
overlay.
Separating target tracking and collision avoidance information
It is good practice to keep the target tracking and collision avoidance
information displayed on a separate screen, so that these two essential tasks
are easier for the watchkeeping officer to manage.
However, there may be occasions when putting the targets on the ECDIS
might be useful, for example to see whether they are constrained in their
navigation by shallow water.
T&Ps and the use of Admiralty Information Overlay (AIO)
The AIO is a service provided by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
(UKHO).
The service provides all Admiralty Temporary and Preliminary Notices to
Mariners, and additional navigationally significant information from the UKHO
ENC validation programme, in the form of a single layer overlay on top of the
basic ENC, which the ECDIS operator can show or hide as necessary.
Where it is available, the ECDIS operator should make full use of this service for
route planning and to view the latest T&P information on ENCs when executing a
route.
Not all manufacturers have the ability to overlay AIO.
T&Ps and the use of Admiralty Information Overlay (AIO)
Even where AIO includes T&P correction from varying government
hydrographic offices, those T&Ps may appear in the AIO several weeks
after being included in the ENC update.
If you are using ENCs without AIO, you only have access to 40% of T&Ps.
The AIO is available, free of additional charge, to all users of the Admiralty
Vector Chart Service (AVCS) who have compatible display equipment.
Navtex, NAVAREA, SafetyNet and other navigational warnings
Messages transmitted by satellite and radio communications are urgent,
short-term warnings that can be integrated into the ECDIS.
Navigating officers can plot new dangers on ENCs by using the Marine
Information Objects (MIO) capability, so that watchkeeping officers can see
these dangers relative to the vessel’s position, automatic alarms may be
generated when the vessel enters an area with a Navtex warning.
Navtex, NAVAREA, SafetyNet and other navigational warnings
Messages transmitted by satellite and radio communications are urgent,
short-term warnings that can be integrated into the ECDIS.
Navigating officers can plot new dangers on ENCs by using the Marine
Information Objects (MIO) capability, so that watchkeeping officers can see
these dangers relative to the vessel’s position, automatic alarms may be
generated when the vessel enters an area with a Navtex warning.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
AIS information can be very helpful in some situations as it shows the
target’s, and other ships‟, predicted track(s). Further information about the
target is available by putting the cursor on it and clicking. AIS functions via
VHF radio so typically AIS will have a range of line of sight.
The information available from the AIS includes:
■ constant or static information
■ dynamic information fed generally directly from the ship’s sensors
■ voyage related information input by the ship’s personnel
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Watchkeeping officers must follow the COLREGS at all times and must use
all available means to make informed decisions about what anti-collision
action to take.
This AIS information is useful, but decisions about collision avoidance must
be done using the target tracking device and visual information. An ECDIS
with an AIS overlay provides an effective means of verifying these
decisions.
Caution: Remember that AIS information depends on the input of the other
ship and so may not be accurate.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An ECDIS with an AIS overlay provides an effective means of verifying
these decisions.
Caution: Remember that AIS information depends on the input of the other
ship and so may not be accurate.
This AIS information is useful, but decisions about collision avoidance must
be done using the target tracking device and visual information, the main
features of this integration is mentioned below.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Collision Avoidance and Surveillance
In this respect, AIS-ECDIS system has indisputable advantages over other
navigation aids like ARPA or radar. Firstly, because the AIS system operating
range is the VHF range in the area. This is almost equivalent to the range, which
the ARPA or radar operate in.
Secondly, the ARPA/radar will only be able to show relative target mark on the
screen by the bearing and range from own ship, whereas the ECDIS allows the
target coordinates, its actual dimensions, full list of identifiers (Name, Call Sign,
MMSI, IMO number) to be accurately determined and the collision avoidance
information for this target (bearing and range to the target, CPA distance and
TCPA time) to be promptly obtained.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Collision Avoidance and Surveillance
It is also possible to rapidly view additional information (Voyage Data) on the target for
any moment in time. If there is a risk of collision with a target or of getting dangerously
close to it, the ECDIS operator can quickly identify dangerous targets, obtain their
parameters and promptly establish communication with these targets by transmitting a
message via the AIS (Safety message) should the target fail to respond to the voice call
on the VHF.
Data on the messages transmitted from the ECDIS via AIS communication is archived in
the ECDIS and will prove to be useful should an accident be considered in a court of
law.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Collision Avoidance and Surveillance
The identification data does not only include the ship identifiers, but also
the ship type, dangerous cargo type, port of destination and time of arrival,
and motion status.
With regard to the motion status, it is worthwhile to add that in the
conditions of limited visibility when the ship lights with "Not under
command" status cannot be seen, time identification of such target on the
ECDIS screen is essential in the analysis of the navigational situation.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Monitoring of the Ship Traffic
Advantages inherent in the use of AIS systems as a tool for VTS and pilot services are
clear and concise.
In this case, port services have the capability to provide timely and efficient monitoring
of the ship traffic flow in the waters under their responsibility.
Prompt ship identification by MMSI number, Call Sign or name, as well as fast search in
the target ship list, have been made possible owing to the AIS. Availability of DGPS
systems built into the AIS allows sufficiently high accuracy detection of targets (up to 10
m). Provided the data on their dimensions is available, targets can be plotted with an
utmost accuracy on an electronic chart in the port office's stationary ECDIS or ECS.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Monitoring of the Ship Traffic
AIS allows communication to be established in a rapid fashion. If inadequate
understanding in the voice communication between the VTS operator and watch officer
should occur, or if there is some noise in the VHF radio station, the AIS allows the
communication to be established in the shortest possible time.
An accurate exchange can be made (in English), by using the message exchange system
similar to one that is used by the SMS or paging communication in every-day life. With
an adequate user-friendly interface of ECDIS or ECS, the navigator can be involved in
such communication, at the same time constantly monitoring the progress of own ship
and targets on the electronic chart, which is beneficial for safe navigation.
Thank you
List of References:
1. Broster, M., 2018. ECDIS Procedures Guide. 2nd ed. Scotland:
Witherby Publishing GroupLtd.
2. International Hydrographic Organization, 2010. Facts about Electronic
Charts and Carriage Requirements. 1st ed. Monaco: International
Hydrographic Bureau .
3. Videotel, 2017, Electronic Charts Display and Information System,
London, UK.
4. Communicatie, F., 2020. Home | IHO. [online] Iho.int. Available at:
<https://iho.int/> [Accessed 24 April 2020].