The Storage, Updating and Presentation of Navigational Information

Navigation is an information processing exercise by virtue of the fact that the navigator in unfamiliar waters places great reliance on the information provided by his navigation sensors and instruments and also on the information contained in hydrographic publications. Since published navigational information is constantly in need of alteration, addition and correction, it can prove very time-consuming to keep up to date a set of publications such as that carried by the average merchant ship. The problem has recently been aggravated by a number of factors, including the shortage of deck officers, the increased volume of traffic in our shipping lanes and the ever dwindling time a ship remains in port. Reports issued by the Chamber of Shipping [1] and the U.S. Oceanographic Office [2] indicate that the failure to correct charts promptly and to make good use of the information contained in publications has been a major contributory factor in many strandings. The navigator is not alone with his problem of managing information. Data processing has become a significant factor in many organisations but little use has so far been made of data processing techniques at sea. In the following paper, the writer reviews the system by which information reaches the mariner, then sets out what is done to make best use of this information. The writer then considers the developments of information technology and tentatively suggests how these developments may be applied in the maritime field