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9. VECTOR (S57) CHARTS
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9.2 Sailing Directions, Tidal Tables, etc., Features of
S57 Charts
S57 charts contain sailing directions, tidal tables and other textual and picture infor-
mation that are not immediately visible on the chart. This information forms an integral
part of the legal ENC chart that can fulfil SOLAS requirements. As a navigator you
should check them as well as you check the visible chart when you do your planning
and when you perform navigation.
Because these features are not permanently visible on the chart as they used to be in
case of a paper chart, the system has special symbols to highlight the locations from
which you can use the Info request to know additional information about the above-
mentioned features. Below are examples of these symbols.
A grey box is used to show that tidal information is available for Info request by
cursor pick. The visibility of this symbol is controlled by the item [Depth con-
tours, magnetics, currents] in the [Other] page of the [Chart Display] menu.
A magenta-colored symbol is used to show that additional textual or picture
information such as sailing directions are available from Info request by
cursor pick. The visibility of this symbol is controlled by the item [Additional
Information Available] in the [Other] page of the [Chart Display] menu.
9.3 Chart Viewing Dates and Seasonal Features of
the S57 Chart
9.3.1 Introduction
S57 charts contain date-dependent features. Updating in general, including reissues,
new editions and updates, creates date dependency. In addition to the obvious date
dependency, some features of the S57 charts create additional date dependency.
These features include "Date Start", "Date End", "Seasonal date start" and "Seasonal
date end". Hydrographic Offices use these features to publish Temporary and Prelim-
inary Notices to Mariners, as their paper chart equivalent updates are called. "Season-
al date start" and "Seasonal date end" are used for seasonal chart features such as
summer-only sea marks, seasonal yacht race areas, etc.
You can efficiently use chart viewing date dependency in order to use the valid data
for any given date applicable for your navigation or planning purposes. For example,
you can check for existence of changes and restrictions weeks before they became
valid. Date dependency is a part of the new electronic method to keep your chart up-
to-date and valid for your intended use. Normally you should set Display date and Ap-
proved Until once per week to keep your chart up-to-date.
9.3.2 How to approve and highlight S57 chart updates
Before you approve updates, you can display (highlight) updates that are included into
S57 charts. Normally you have selected for automatic after the SENC conversion. In
this case, after all the SENC conversions have been finished, all updates are automat-
ically highlighted and you can view and approve them after viewing. See the next sec-
tion for how to set Display date and Approved until dates.
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