How a Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure will help The Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation of the Brazilian Navy in mapping Brazilian waters.
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Carballini, J.; 2Mandarino, F.
1CARIS Email: juan.carballini@caris.com
2DIRECTORATE OF HYDROGRAPHY AND NAVIGATION Email: flavia@chm.mar.mil.br
Abstract
Hydrographic organizations around the world are responsible for the compilation and management of large volumes of marine spatial data, which is used primarily to ensure safe navigation within their national waters, as well as the proper management of natural resources, national security, environment protection and many other tasks that are essential to the existence of a nation. The Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation of the Brazilian Navy (DHN) is responsible for mapping the Brazilian waters and creating and maintaining the corresponding nautical cartography. Although hydrographic mapping can be financially costly it is a very important matter for nations, especially in a large country such as Brazil, where natural resources are one of the main components of the country’s economy. Charting the Brazilian waters is not a simple undertaking, especially given that Brazil has a coastline of approximately 8.500 km, its economic exclusive zone is approximately 3,500,000 km2 and there are more than 40.000 km of navigable inland waterways that need to be mapped and maintained. According to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), a nautical chart is defined as a cartographic product specifically designed to meet the requirements of marine navigation, showing depths of water, nature of bottom, elevations, configuration and characteristics of the coast, existing dangers and aids to navigation. These real world features can be represented in a paper chart, electronic navigational chart (ENC) or a raster navigational chart (RNC) which are also referred to as marine charts, hydrographic charts, or simply charts. DHN has the mandate to produce paper charts, ENCs and RNCs for the maritime sector, as well as for the inland waterways. In order to be able to tackle the creation and maintenance of these nautical products DHN has to follow different international standards and specifications, such as IHO S-4 and INT1/INT2 for paper chart production and the IHO S-57 for ENC production. In addition, there are also standards and product specifications for Inland ENC production that are regulated by the Inland ENC Harmonization Group (IEHG). At the moment DHN has to maintain around 660 paper charts for the maritime and inland waters as well as 137 ENCs and there are plans to produce around 20 ENCs more in order to cover the main ports and the Brazilian territorial waters. With the increased volumes of data being collected and the demand for multiple products hydrographic organizations are entering the realm of “Big Data” and the proper management of this data constitutes a very big challenge for agencies. There is a myriad of occurrences in which the same marine spatial information can be used to satisfy requirements for a wide range of other applications including; defense, coastal zone management, environmental studies, natural resources management, etc. The implementation of a Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) using open industry formats and specifications, allows DHN to ensure interoperability within the organization and with other stakeholders, as well as maximize the use of the marine spatial information in the greater GIS community. This paper will explain in detail the different standards and product specifications, as well as the production workflow that is carried out to create and maintain chart products. It will also look at the challenges that DHN faces in handling large amounts of data and products and how changes in workflows from traditional file based chart production systems to the use of relational database management systems can gain efficiencies in the administration, visualization, production and distribution of data, as well as data storage.