NOAA's Electronic Navigational Chart program

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is producing a suite of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) that will cover the coastal waters of the United States, the Great Lakes and U.S. territories. NOAA ENCs are produced in the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) format as defined in edition 3.1 of publication S-57: IHO Transfer Standard for Digital Hydrographic Data. ENCs are compiled from original source materials where appropriate to provide the most accurate data available. The ENC database will be kept in continual maintenance (i.e. updated on a weekly basis), allowing ENC users to obtain vector data sets that contain the most up to date and accurate information. By the conclusion of fiscal year 2002, NOAA shall have completed 215 ENCs. These ENCs, in large part will cover the 40 major commercial ports in the U.S. NOAA also has plans to have a monthly updating service in place by October 1, 2002.