[adjuvantjfoster]

There is another thread on another list on this subject:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/show...#post44610

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/

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

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/

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?