Is there any merit in producing MacDNC?

Is there any merit in producing MacDNC? - Printable Version

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Is there any merit in producing MacDNC? - adjuvantjfoster - September 9, 2006

Is there any merit in producing MacDNC? .....grin.....

Look at the DNC chart site at

<http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/dnc/>

Digital Nautical Chart (DNC®)

The Digital Nautical Chart® is produced by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and is an unclassified, vector-based, digital database containing maritime significant features essential for safe marine navigation.

Initial data collection of the database is from a portfolio of approximately 5,000 nautical charts that will ultimately provide global marine navigation between 84° North latitude and 81° South latitude and support a variety of Geographic Information System applications.

There is a DNC FAQ page which might help clarify some issues, particularly about cost and availability:

<http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/dnc/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&beanID=171498598&viewID=detail_view>

- ReeferJon - September 10, 2006

So let me get this right...

DNC coverage is for the whole world.. and is freely downloadable to all?

Interesting... they don't explain why the didn't go with S57 though.

- cyberhusky - September 10, 2006

Quote: DNC coverage is for the whole world.. and is freely downloadable to all?

I've found this on there homepage:

DNC coverage is for the whole world.. and is freely downloadable to all?

See last paragraph on this page
http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/dnc/index.jsp?epi-content=INLINELINK&viewID=Article&itemID=0d38ff024643ff00VgnVCMServer3c02010aRCRD

OTOH it's available for SOLARIS UNIX, so as OS X has much UNIX functionality, a port to OS X should not be that a great problem.

And which navigation application can use these maps?

- jagasail - September 10, 2006

Did you guys miss this in their FAQ's?

"When will DNC® be available to the public?
DNC® will only be made available to the public for selected continental and US territory waters. All DNC® libraries outside of US waters are not available to the general public due to foreign copyright restrictions."

So what's the advantage over what we already have with MacENC?

Scot

Is there any merit in producing MacDNC? - adjuvantjfoster - September 10, 2006

Remember in the early days of GPS, when the military level of data availability was much better than the civilian data availability?

Is it just possible that the DNC to ENC difference is similar? Is the copyright argument just a smokescreen for such a defence based limitation?

Is there anyone on this list who can look at the some portion of the two underlying databases and shed any light on this?

This might help to answer the question: Is there any merit in producing MacDNC?

- cyberhusky - September 10, 2006

cyberhusky Wrote:
Quote: DNC coverage is for the whole world.. and is freely downloadable to all?

I've found this on there homepage:

DNC coverage is for the whole world.. and is freely downloadable to all?

Of course the phrase should have been:
Public sale of Digital Nautical Chart in US waters is anticipated in the near future.

I did copy the same sentence 2 times.

Sorry.

- cyberhusky - September 11, 2006

Here's the reply I got from DNC

Quote:Thank you for submitting a request to the NGA Maritime Customer Database. The question/comment originally submitted is listed below along with a resolution.

Date Submitted:09/11/2006

Subject Matter: DNC

Question/Comment:
I have seen the DNC charts on your homepage, I would like to know if these charts are available or can be used by public for sailing? If yes which application is necessary to use these charts on Apple Mac computers running OS X? What is the difference between DNC and S-57/S-63 vector format ENC charts? Thank you very much in advance. Regards, Manou BILLA

Resolution:
DNC is in a format called VPF (Vector Product Format), which uses a table based georelational data model and supports GIS applications such as mission planning, command and control, and situational awareness. This data is primarily used by the US Navy, Coast Guard, and other DoD agencies. VPF format is just a different format than S-57/S-63 format and which does meet IHO requirements for navigation. As per the caveats on our homepage, DNC is approved for navigation for federal vessels only. Regulations for civil use of electronic chart navigation have not yet been issued for U.S. waters and CIVIL VESSELS ARE NOT TO USE DNCÂ® FOR NAVIGATION. DNCÂ® is being made available to the public for GIS use only. While we do have DNC for world-wide navigation for our military customers, only DNC in US waters can be made available to the general public due to copyright restrictions with foriegn countries. In regards to Apple Mac OS X compatability with DNC, I'm really not aware of any programs that run on this OS that is compatable with DNC. We do support Windows and UNIX OS, which is what our primary customer require. Hope this answers you questions.

- adjuvantjfoster - September 15, 2006

From another list, map_authors@yahoogroups.com , this reply came.

2b.
Re: Would DNC vector charts be superior to ENC vector charts?
Posted by: "Global Mapper Support" global_mapper@yahoo.com global_mapper
Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:09 am (PST)
Rob,

If you don't want to have to use ArcGIS or another expensive ESRI product, you can use Global Mapper to load all of the formats mentioned (DNC, ENC, and E00) and export them to Polish MP format files for use with cGPSMapper. http://globalmapper.com/

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thanks,

Mike
Global Mapper Support
support@globalmapper.com
----- Original Message -----
From: wrx1knp
To: map_authors@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 1:50 PM
Subject: [ GPS Maps ] Re: Would DNC vector charts be superior to ENC vector charts?

Hi John

I am not sure abouthe actual "data quality" but you can download the
stuff here: http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/

See the comments on the website.

ESRI ( http://www.esri.com ) reproduced the DCW on CD in a GIS (ArcINFO)
friendly format. I had the original 4 CD's, data was "tiled" and a
real pain to use. Penn State did a good job of providing a decent
download facility (selectable by country.) But you still need
ArcGIS/View to read the .e00 (arcINFO Export) files.

Hope this helps!

Regards

Rob
--- In map_authors@yahoogroups.com, "John Foster" <jfoster@...>
wrote:
>
> Remember in the early days of GPS, when the military level of data
> availability was much better than the civilian data availability?
>
> Is it just possible that the DNC to ENC difference is similar? Is
the
> copyright argument just a smokescreen for such a defence based
limitation? SNIP

- adjuvantjfoster - September 17, 2006

There is another thread on another list on this subject:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=44610#post44610

Quote:Originally Posted by adjuvantjfoster
Given:
SNIP
Leaving aside, for the moment, issues of copyright, availability, and software to read the DNC charts, would the DNC charts be superior to the now widely used ENC charts? Is the ENC to DNC quality analagous to the old days of GPS precision?

ENC charts are available worldwide from a number of sources. Not just Noaa or the US government agencies. For example

http://www.transas.com/products/onboard/ecs/tx97/

Quote:Since the year 2000, Transas has been an official and exclusive distributor of the Russian Federation Chief Administration of Hydrography and Oceanography for S-57 charts. Since 2004 Transas is an official distributor of charts in SENC (System Electronic Navigation Charts) format from the world main ENC providers: IC-ENC and PRIMAR Stavanger.

http://www.ic-enc.org/page_coverage_catalogue.asp

Quote:members of the two leading ENC centres – PRIMAR-Stavanger and IC-ENC – have joined forces to create a comprehensive guide to charts and chart carriage requirements.

http://www.primar-stavanger.org/

Quote:The service has been in full operation since April 2002, and include today official ENCs from more than 30 countries.

No doubt that ENC is the presently accepted vector chart standard.

As an example, Nobeltec, a popular UK-based PC charting application, licenses its vector charts from Transas. While in turn Transas is an official distributor of charts in SENC (System Electronic Navigation Charts) format from the world main ENC providers: IC-ENC and PRIMAR Stavanger.

In the future, would digital navigation be better off with DNC vector charts?