IMO e-Navigation Implementation Strategy –Challenge for Data Modeling

The topic of e‐Navigation entered the stage of IMO in 2008 already. After yearlong debates, the member states now agree about a consolidated interpretation of e‐Navigation (NAV58/6, 2012). One of the principal decisions made already, is to develop the overarching consistent e‐Navigation data model on all aspects related to the shipping and maritime domain at large. This so‐called Common Maritime Data Structure should be built on the basis of the S‐100 Framework of IHO (S‐100, 2010). The basis of data modeling within the S‐100 framework is the so called “IHO Geospatial Information Registry” (Registry, 2013). Although S‐100 is designed to support a wider range of hydrographic data beyond ENCs, their creators originally had no intention to expand this model to the wider scope of shipping. This paper proposes a transformation and an enhancement of the existent infrastructure towards a universal “Marine Information Registry” to host data modeling of all aspects of shipping and the maritime domain, including the modeling of non‐spatial information