10 Route Planning, Monitoring and Voyage Recording
Clasification Society 2024 - Version 9.40
Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Assembly - IMO Resolution A.817(19) – Performance Standards for Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) – (Adopted on 23 November 1995) - Annex - Performance Standards for Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) - 10 Route Planning, Monitoring and Voyage Recording

10 Route Planning, Monitoring and Voyage Recording

  10.1 It should be possible to carry out route planning and route monitoring in a simple and reliable manner.

  10.2 ECDIS should be designed following ergonomic principles for user-friendly operation.

  10.3 The largest scale data available in the SENC for the area given should always be used by the ECDIS for all alarms or indications of crossing the ship’s safety contour and of entering a prohibited area, and for alarms and indications according to appendix 5.

  10.4 Route planning

  10.4.1 It should be possible to carry out route planning including both straight and curved segments.

  10.4.2 It should be possible to adjust a planned route by, for example:

  • .1 adding waypoints to a route;

  • .2 deleting waypoints from a route;

  • .3 changing the position of a waypoint;

  • .4 changing the order of the waypoints in the route.

  10.4.3 It should be possible to plan an alternative route in addition to the selected route. The selected route should be clearly distinguishable from the other routes.

  10.4.4 An indication is required if the mariner plans a route across an own ship’s safety contour.

  10.4.5 An indication is required if the mariner plans a route across the boundary of a prohibited area or of a geographical area for which special conditions exist (see appendix 4).

  10.4.6 It should be possible for the mariner to specify a limit of deviation from the planned route at which activation of an automatic offtrack alarm should occur.

  10.5 Route monitoring

  10.5.1 For route monitoring the selected route and own ship’s position should appear whenever the display covers that area.

  10.5.2 It should be possible to display a sea area that does not have the ship on the display (e.g. for look ahead, route planning), while route monitoring. If this is done on the display used for route monitoring, the automatic route monitoring functions (e.g. updating ship’s position, and providing alarms and indications) should be continuous. It should be possible to return to the route monitoring display covering own ship’s position immediately by single operator action.

  10.5.3 ECDIS should give an alarm if the ship, within a specified time set by the mariner, is going to cross the safety contour.

  10.5.4 ECDIS should give an alarm or indication, as selected by the mariner, if the ship, within a specified time set by the mariner, is going to cross the boundary of a prohibited area or of a geographical area for which special conditions exist (see appendix 4).

  10.5.5 An alarm should be given when the specified limit for deviation from the planned route is exceeded.

  10.5.6 The ship’s position should be derived from a continuous positioning system of an accuracy consistent with the requirements of safe navigation. Whenever possible, a second independent positioning method of a different type should be provided; ECDIS should be capable of identifying discrepancies between the two systems.

  10.5.7 ECDIS should provide an alarm when the input from the position-fixing system is lost. ECDIS should also repeat, but only as an indication, any alarm or indication passed to it from a position-fixing system.

  10.5.8 An alarm should be given by ECDIS if the ship, within a specified time or distance set by the mariner, is going to reach a critical point on the planned route.

  10.5.9 The positioning system and the SENC should be on the same geodetic datum. ECDIS should give an alarm if this is not the case.

  10.5.10 It should be possible to display an alternative route in addition to the selected route. The selected route should be clearly distinguishable from the other routes. During the voyage, it should be possible for the mariner to modify the selected sailing route or change to an alternative route.

  10.5.11 It should be possible to display:

  • .1 time-labels along ship’s track, manually on demand and automatically at intervals selected between 1 and 120 m; and

  • .2 an adequate number of: points, free movable electronic bearing lines, variable and fixed-range markers and other symbols required for navigation purposes and specified in appendix 3.

  10.5.12 It should be possible to enter the geographical co-ordinates of any position and then display that position on demand. It should also be possible to select any point (features, symbol or position) on the display and to read its geographical co-ordinates on demand.

  10.5.13 It should be possible to adjust the ship’s geographical position manually. This manual adjustment should be noted alphanumerically on the screen, maintained until altered by the mariner, and automatically recorded.

  10.6 Voyage recording

  10.6.1 ECDIS should store and be able to reproduce certain minimum elements required to reconstruct the navigation and verify the official database used during the previous 12 h. The following data should be recorded at one-minute intervals:

  • .1 to ensure a record of own ship’s past track: time, position, heading, and speed; and

  • .2 to ensure a record of official data used: ENC source, edition, date, cell and update history.

  10.6.2 In addition, ECDIS should record the complete track for the entire voyage, with time marks at intervals not exceeding 4 h.

  10.6.3 It should not be possible to manipulate or change the recorded information.

  10.6.4 ECDIS should have the capability to preserve the record of the previous 12 h and of the voyage track.


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