This is what ECDIS’s great transit plan looks like
We have come a long way since ECDIS was incorporated into our lives. Initially, we had a hard time keeping ENC up to date with ECDIS. But that’s a thing of the past. Most of us now know this drill on the back of our hand.
We’ve also covered quite a few articles on updating ENCs and keeping them up to date. Inspectors are currently focusing on ECDIS in detail, even during third-party inspections.
Even they think the period of amateur questions about ECDIS passage planning. One area that currently needs more detail is the ECDIS transit plan.
This is what ECDIS’s great transit plan looks like
Written by Captain Rajiv Jassar on March 3, 2019
ECDIS transit plan
We have come a long way since ECDIS was incorporated into our lives. Initially, we had a hard time keeping ENC up to date with ECDIS.
But that’s a thing of the past. Most of us now know this drill on the back of our hand. We’ve also covered quite a few articles on updating ENCs and keeping them up to date.
Inspectors are currently focusing on ECDIS in detail, even during third-party inspections. Even they think the period of amateur questions about ECDIS is over.
One area that currently needs more detail is the ECDIS transit plan:
Well, in reality, there is no difference in the ECDIS transit plan. More or less it is the same as what we were doing on paper charts. But it’s still very different.
In this blog, we’ll discuss seven factors that, once plotted, make ECDIS transit plans stand out.
1. Route
The first element you guess is the root. And when it comes to route selection, even if you’re using paper charts, it’s no different than what we’re doing.
You need to find information from all available publications.
This is an article I wrote sometime about using publications to find the best route to follow. And once you have all the information, you need to use it to determine your route. The route we determine must comply with all company requirements and industry guidelines.
Once you have created the complete route, you can save the route. Waypoints created by a graphical editor are most often up to three decimal places. We recommend that you change these waypoints to one decimal place for better reference. To do this, you can go to Route-> Route Planning-> Table Editor and open the recently saved route.
You can fine-tune waypoints from the table. For example, you can change longitude 38 Deg 57.999’to 39 Degrees.
2. Route check.
Now you need to make sure that the route you drew does not go through the danger. However, before that, the ECDIS safety settings must be set according to the draft of the next voyage.
I have written a detailed blog about ECDIS safety settings, but check it out for more information on ECDIS safety settings. Here, to check the route, each ECDIS has a function called “route check” or “safety check”.
- Go to Route-> Route Planning-> Table Editor and open the route you created for your current voyage.
- In the editor, enter the required crosstrack error value or the value that your company or master allows.
- The route check feature checks if a route has passed a navigation hazard (along with cross-track distance).
