IENC DISTRIBUTION IN EUROPE

Transcription

1 IENC DISTRIBUTION IN EUROPE Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Advantages and disadvantages of distribution models Proposals for a sustainable distribution model Grant Agreement: (Sub)workpackage: SWP 5.3 Author: Serendipity UnLtd Version (date): 02/12/2009 PLATINA is funded by the European Union (DG-TREN) under the 7th Framework Programme for RTD

2 Document history Document version (date) Comments (changes compared to previous version) Authorised by First draft Cas Willems comments Bernd Birklhuber comments Marc Persoons, Periskal comments Hans Kouwenberg, Noordersoft information BMVBS comments Lucia Karpatyova Second draft Cas Willems comments Astrid Schlewing, Andreas Beck updates on availability, Final version Cas Willems Authors of the document Responsible organisation Serendipity UnLtd Principal author Peter Kluytenaar DISCLAIMER PLATINA is funded by the Directorate General on Energy and Transport of the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The views expressed in the working papers, deliverables and reports are those of the project consortium partners. These views have not been adopted or approved by the Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission's or its services' views. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in the working papers and reports, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 1

3 Contents 1 Introduction Inventory ienc availability and distribution General Member States Austria Belgium/ Flanders Belgium/ Wallonia Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Danmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom Other European countries SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 2

4 2.3.1 Bosnia Croatia Serbia Switzerland Ukraine models Summary IENC models General Reasons to charge Reasons not to charge Discussion Costs Safety RIS consistency via resellers via national websites Sustainable solution for IENC distribution Proposal Conclusions Without IENCs no RIS Sustainable solution for IENC distribution Present coverage Present distribution to end-users Links to European IENCs Links to European IENC resellers SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 3

5 1 INTRODUCTION Directive 2005/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on harmonised river information services (RIS) on inland waterways in the Community requires the Member States with waterways linked to the navigable network of another Member State to supply RIS users with all relevant data concerning navigation and voyage planning on inland waterways. These data shall be provided at least in an accessible electronic format. Additionally, however, the Member States must make electronic navigational charts (IENCs) suitable for navigational purposes available to RIS users for all their inland waterways of Class Va and above. The Directive also states that Member States, if appropriate in cooperation with the Community, shall encourage boat masters, operators, agents or owners of vessels navigating on their inland waterways and shippers or owners of goods carried on board such vessels to fully profit from the services which are made available under the Directive. The following report provides an overview of the availability and methods of distribution of IENCs of all Member States (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 discusses the different distribution models and the implications for safety and for River Information Services. Chapter 4 provides a proposal for a sustainable solution for IENC distribution. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 4

6 2 INVENTORY IENC AVAILABILITY AND DISTRIBUTION 2.1 General The Inland ECDIS Standard describes the format of IENCs. However the Standard does not include the methods of distribution further than the packaging of the individual IENCs and accompanying text files, photos and xml s in so-called exchange sets. These sets may be protected from unauthorised use, possibly by the use of encryption algorithms. The distribution channel, e.g. FTP-server, web page, etc however is not prescribed. Following is a comprehensive list of all EU Member States with the respective IENC availability and distribution in these countries. Directive 2005/44/EC limits the obligation to produce IENCs to countries with waterways that are connected to the main waterways in Europe. If a country has no connected waterways this is stated in the list. 2.2 Member States Austria IENCs are available for all Class Va and above waterways, comprising the River Danube from the German to the Slovakian border, including the main ports. Updates are produced regularly. The Austrian IENCs and updates are distributed free of charge via On request users are made aware of the availability of updates and new editions by . The IENCs and updates are distributed in Exchange Sets according to the Inland ECDIS Standard Belgium/ Flanders ENCs have been produced for among others Albertkanaal, Bovenschelde between Wintham and French border, Ringvaart Gent, Kanaal Gent-Terneuzen, Leie, Zeekanaal Brussel. More ENCs are foreseen. At the time of writing the ENCs have been distributed neither to skippers nor to the resellers. It is not clear when and how the ENCs are going to be distributed. It has been decided however that the IENCs will be provided free of charge. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 5

7 2.2.3 Belgium/ Wallonia Wallonia to date has not produced IENCs yet. method and costs are still to be decided Bulgaria Information received last year indicates that IENCs have not yet been produced in Bulgaria. Apparently once IENCs have been produced, they will be made available to the end users free of charge Cyprus Czech Republic The Czech Republic produces IENCs for the River Elbe from the German border to Pardubice and for the River Vltava from Mělník to Třebenice. The IENCs are made available via as individual cells. The IENCs are provided free of charge Danmark Estonia Finland France So far VNF produced two IENCs (30 km of the River Garonne, CEMT I). The two River Garonne IENC are free of charge for the final user (Ro-Ro vessel MT Breuil transporting Airbus A380 parts), but are not available for other users. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 6

8 VNF is involved in IRIS Europe II, among others on the sub-activity 1.1. The IENCs that will be produced within IRIS Europe II will be free of charge. Otherwise the French policy about IENC distribution is similar to the German policy (see ). The idea behind this is apparently to harmonise the distribution of the IENCs of the river Rhine. Distributors with a contract with VNF under VNF s General Terms of Trade can distribute French IENCs paying according to the number of sold charts Germany By the time of writing this report Germany has produced IENCs for most of its Class Va and above waterways. See also Figure 1. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 7

9 Figure 1 IENC production Germany The German IENCs until now are not distributed free of charge, but are being distributed in encrypted SENC format via selected resellers that need to have a contract with the German waterway administration. The IENCs are charged per river kilometre ( 4.40 per waterway kilometre in the case of a fixed price contract with the SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 8

10 reseller). The background is to be found in the Federal Bundeshaushaltsordnung that requires German governmental bodies to be cost-effective. It also requires charges, fees and dues to at least cover the involved costs and to provide a legal basis for charges, fees, etc. The German ministry BMVBS has provide for the latter by VV-WSV Kostenerstattungsvorschrift [KEV]. This has been worked out in an internal ministerial directive (Musterbedingungen für Lieferungen und Leistungen im Geoinformationswesen des Bundes) that distinguishes three types of data: basic, standard and tailor-made. Basic data (German: Grundversorgung) is among others assumed to be not of commercial interest and is delivered free-of-charge, while standard and tailor-made data has to be charged for. The distribution of the German IENCs was designated to belong to the standard category, apparently under the assumption that the sales of IENCs would be economically viable for resellers. So far the resellers have paid the German waterway administration per actually sold IENC. It is however understood that German waterway administration has attempted to change to fixed price contracts likely in an attempt to reduce the administrative overhead. The most recent information is that the German waterway administration is considering distribution free-of-charge Greece Hungary Hungary has produced IENCs for the Hungarian part of the River Danube. The Hungarian IENCs were very recently made available free of charge via Ireland Italy However, IENCs have been produced for the navigable parts of the River Po by C-Map (now Jeppesen) under contract with ARNI, the Po River navigation authority. Updates are being produced by ARNI Latvia The original River Po IENCs were charged for. Updates are distributed by ARNI via a Jeppesen website for free. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 9

11 Lithuania Luxembourg Malta IENCs of the River Mosel have been produced and are also maintained and distributed by Germany. See Netherlands The Netherlands is presently producing IENCs for all its Class IV and above waterways. Test IENCs are presently made available via free of charge. Also the final IENCs, which will be distributed via a presently developed dedicated FIS, will be free of charge. Presently the IENCs are not distributed in Exchanges Sets, but as individual cells organised by pre-selected routes Poland Poland is about to start producing IENCs in a co-operation between the Maritime University of Szczecin and the Polish Hydrographic Office. The first phase is shown in the following figure. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 10

12 Figure 2 Planned initial IENC production Poland No decision has yet been made how to distribute the Polish IENCs and if these will be free of charge Portugal SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 11

13 Romania Romania has produced IENCs for the Romanian part of the River Danube. The Romanian IENCs are made available free of charge at Slovakia Slovakia recently produced IENCs for the Slovakian part of the River Danube. To date of this report the Slovakian IENCs were not yet distributed to end-users Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom 2.3 Other European countries Bosnia Croatia Bosnia has as yet not produced IENCs for their part of the River Sava 1. Croatia has produced IENCs for the Rivers Danube, Drava and Sava. New editions are produced once a year. The Croatian IENCs are made available free of charge on 1 NB The River Sava is a Class III waterway. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 12

14 2.3.3 Serbia Serbia produces IENCs for the River Danube, River Tisza and the River Sava. The Serbian IENCs are made available free of charge at Switzerland Switzerland produces one IENC that covers the River Rhine from the Rheinfelden Bridge at km up to the German-Swiss border at km The Swiss IENC is available free of charge at: End users are made aware of new editions by means of Notices to Skippers Ukraine Ukraine has full coverage with IENCs of the River Danube from the border until the Black Sea (120 km). The IENCs cover the waterway from riverbank to riverbank (i.e. including the Romanian part). Ukraine has also produced IENCs for the River Dnjepr. The Ukrain IENCs are being distributed in encrypted SENC format via selected resellers that need to have a contract with the State Hydrographic Service of Ukraine similar to the maritime ENCs of the Ukraine. The State Hydrographic Service of Ukraine distributes weekly updates to the selected resellers. 2.4 models There appear to be two official IENC distribution models in Europe: via a national website free-of-charge. via contracted resellers at a price per river kilometre. In practice there is however a third model: of both free-of-charge and non-fee of charge IENCs via resellers. The main reasons for this third model are: The sheer number of websites to visit if one is operating in the larger part of Europe. The (very) limited coverage, quality and/or up-to-date-ness of IENCs of a number of countries. Only a few countries provide services to notify end-users of updates and new editions of their IENCs. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 13

15 Not all websites provide another language than the national language. If another language is provided this generally is English, whereas many of the skippers are not (yet) proficient in the English language. Generally the on-board software either does not (yet) allow skipper to install (updates to) IENCs not being delivered by the software producer or makes installing/ updating a complicated manoeuvre for the average. The result is that the majority of end-users rely on update-cd s that are distributed by the software producers/ resellers. These CD s generally contain both updates to the Inland ECDIS software and updates and new editions of the IENCs. Some of the software producers also produce additional IENC coverage and/or enhance the official IENCs either to compensate a lack of quality or a lack of content. On the other hand some software producers distribute the European IENCs as is. 2.5 Summary EU Countries Country class coverage published standard costs distribution 2 Austria Va+ full yes 2.0 free web Belgium/ Flanders Belgium/ Wallonia Va+ partly no 2.0 free? Va+ none no??? Bulgaria Va+ full? no 1.02 free? Cyprus - n.c.w. 3 Czech Rep. IV full yes 1.02 free web Danmark - n.c.w. Estonia - n.c.w. Finland - n.c.w. France Va+ 30 km limited? yes 4 resellers Germany Va+ 2300/4000 rkm yes 1.02/2.0 yes resellers See however remarks in 2.4 No connected waterways. IENC coverage that will be produced within IRIS Europe II will be distributed free of charge. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 14

16 EU Countries Country class coverage published standard costs distribution 2 Greece - n.c.w. 5 Hungary Va+ full yes 1.02 free web Ireland - n.c.w. Italy IV partly yes 1.01 free 6 web Latvia - n.c.w. Lithuania - n.c.w. Luxemburg Va+ full 7 yes 1.02 yes resellers Malta - n.c.w. Netherlands IV+ full yes 2.0 free web Poland Va+ planned free web Portugal IV n.c.w. Romania Va+ full yes 1.01/1.02 free web Slovakia Va+ full no 1.02 free web Slovania - n.c.w. Spain - n.c.w. Sweden - n.c.w. United Kingdom - n.c.w. Other European Countries Country class coverage published standard costs distribution 8 Bosnia III none No connected waterways. Original River Po IENCs were being charged for. Updates are provided for free. Coverage produced and maintained by Germany See however remarks in 2.4 SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 15

17 Other European Countries Country class coverage published standard costs distribution 8 Croatia IV+ full yes 1.02/2.0 free web Serbia Va+ full yes 1.02 free web Switzerland Va+ full yes 1.02 free web Ukraine Va+ Danube/ Dnepr yes 1.02 yes resellers SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 16

18 3 IENC DISTRIBUTION MODELS 3.1 General The previous chapter shows that the majority of European countries have decided to distribute their IENCs free of charge. Exceptions to date are Germany, France and the Ukraine, while some countries are as yet undecided. In the following paragraphs first reasons for charging money will be summed up while secondly arguments for the free-of-charge distribution model will be provided. 3.2 Reasons to charge In the discussions during the past years about the cost model of IENCs the arguments to charge for IENCs were: There is no international binding regulation for not charging for IENCs. The production is costly. Digital maps for road traffic are charged for. Especially the last two arguments are used most often. Although as yet no confirmation was received, apparently German law prohibits distributing data that has been gathered and produced with government money for free. 3.3 Reasons not to charge In the discussion during the past years about the cost model of IENCs arguments not to charge for IENCs are: IENCs not only enhance safety of the waterway users but also enhance safety of the general public 9. IENCs are the geographical basis for River Information Services (RIS). RIS in its final full-fledged form can only operate if availability of up-to-date IENCs at the waterway users is guaranteed. IENCs are used by the waterway authorities themselves and thus not solely produced for non-governmental users. In other words they are of might have been produced anyway. Given the very limited number of private users 10 recovering the full costs of data collection, data processing and production of IENCs from the private end-users would severely influence the modal-shift The latter has been the main argument in the USA to choose for a free-of-charge model for both maritime and inland ENCs. The introduction of free-of-charge IENCs in the USA is directly linked to the Amtrak train derailment near Mobile due to collision of barge with a railway bridge killing 47 and injuring 103 persons, on September 22, Compared to road traffic. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 17

19 3.4 Discussion Costs It may be expected that given the more dynamic character of the relevant navigational information the data gathering to produce IENCs is more costly than the data gathering for road maps, while at the same time the number of (potential) users of road maps amounts to tens of millions versus some ten thousands of potential users of IENCs. On the other hand much of the data gathering for IENCs is undertaken anyway for waterway maintenance purposes and - increasingly important - water-management. Also in recent years there is an increased demand for electronic charts on board of the vessels of waterway authorities, water management agencies, customs, water police, etc to improve survey, but also surveillance efficiency. Generally (sometimes enhanced) IENCs appear to be a preferred format also for these purposes. In other word a large part if not all of the costs to produce and distribute IENCs is incurred by the taxpayer anyway. If one wants to promote the use of IENCs on board of inland vessels the price of needs to be competitive unless a requirement to carry official IENCs would be introduced. It is questionable if in this case such price could compensate even the costs of the necessary administration that comes with this distribution model. At the same time even if an IENC carriage requirement would be introduced it is likely that only a limited part of the total cost of producing and distributing IENCs can be recovered without seriously affecting the modal shift. Costs that may (just) be acceptable for commercial vessels will surely be totally unacceptable for leisure boats. This implies, that charged IENCs will almost never be used by these waterway users, causing possible conflict because two types of waterway users navigate by means of two different sorts of charts. To charge for the (much larger numbers of) leisure boat chart usage, an even more costly handling and administration would be needed, making the charges even less worthwhile. Charging also forces resellers to put some sort of copy control system on sold IENC; such a system multiplies the cost of production, maintenance and updating of IENC by a factor 10. As an example: Dutch and Austrian IENC are made available on the web site of some resellers, downloadable for free for anybody who wants to use them; charts for Germany charged with approximately 4.40 per kilometer by the German waterways board in the case of a fixed price contract would have to be distributed to the end-user for a considerably higher price in order for the reseller to break even, and they require more money with each and every maintenance handling that is required 11. Some resellers choose to charge their users only for part of these costs, simply because charging the full costs would make the use of these charts unaffordable by a large part of the users of navigation systems in RIS. This however 11 The observation that apparently the resellers are not able to make a reasonable profit on the German IENCs would suggest a designation as Grundversorgung and thus free-of-charge distribution. See also SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 18

20 3.4.2 Safety then needs to be recovered by an increased cost (and often slower development of among others RIS functionality) of the application. An important distinction between (digital) road maps and IENCs is the safety aspect. One may reason that also digital road maps enhance safety. However accidents as a result of distraction by car navigation devices or blindly followed false route instructions suggest otherwise 12. There are however a number of differences between road navigation on the one hand and waterway navigation on the other: A major difference between road traffic and waterway navigation is the fact that ships are far less easily stopped in cases of doubt where to go than cars or trucks. As such vessels generally need to anticipate much further ahead. The need to anticipate is the reason why on many of the European waterways there is the requirement for extensive local knowledge in order to be allowed to navigate those waterways. However with the expansion of the European Union towards the east the waterway network has expanded tremendously as well. This makes it impossible for skippers to keep being up-to-date on the entire waterway network. Vessel navigation also has to consider the water depth in relation to the vessel s draft both on a strategic and on a tactical level, this next to the vessel s length, width and height. Additionally both the available height and water depth depend on the water level, which is a dynamic phenomenon. Road maps only contain road information, i.e. location of roads, names, allowed speed. IENCs on the other hand also (need to) contain information about buoys, beacons, notice marks, etc. Again rather dynamic information in some areas. Use of the same sources of information about the navigational aspects of ship movements is vital to avoid misunderstandings and miscommunication (like in verbal communication with regard to the position of vessels and boats). When (even a part of the real cost) for charts are being charged, especially leisure boaters will be tempted to seek refuge with cheaper sources of information. The use of different chart information will not contribute to a safer sharing of the waterways by different categories of users RIS consistency When the concept of River Information Services was drafted part of the concept was that the IENCs together would form the database that collected all geographical related RIS information. Thus the departure and arrival terminal of an ERI electronic report could be found in an IENC to position it in the world. Similarly a Notice to Skippers would refer to a real world object that again could be located in an IENC. Budgetary reasons were the background that as yet there is only a requirement to produce and distribute IENCs for waterways of Class Va and up. The comprise being the RIS Index covering the remaining waterways. This however can and without 12 In all fairness it has to be mentioned that there have also been cases where (lack of familiarity with) ECDIS did lead to maritime accidents. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 19

21 doubt will only be a temporary situation as is demonstrated by the fact that several countries already decided to also produce IENCs for smaller waterways. In the end electronic reporting can only function reliably if it can be guaranteed that if a skipper looks up a loading or discharging terminal in his electronic chart it has the same reference as is used by the waterway authority. This will only be the case if both the waterway authority and the skippers have the same geographically oriented terminal database: the IENC. Similarly the more Notices to Skippers are drafted according to the standard (i.e. no free text in national language) a Notice to Skippers will only make sense to a skipper if he can (easily) find the object to which the Notice is referring in his electronic chart (IENC). The same applies to a number of the binary messages of the AIS via resellers The non-free-of-charge IENCs are distributed in SENC format by commercial resellers, generally the software producers. The distribution of IENCs via resellers however introduces a dependency of the end users on these commercial parties with regard to getting IENC updates and new IENC editions on board of the vessels. Presently the resellers generally distribute CD-ROMs containing both updates to the Inland ECDIS software and updates and new editions of the IENCs in their respective proprietary SENC format about four times a year. Neither the waterway authorities nor the skippers have control over this frequency. Nor can one expect that resellers would be willing to guarantee and be accountable for timely delivery on board. Interestingly, during a recent discussion the software resellers that are presently distributing the European IENCs, have stated that they would be very happy to withdraw out of their present intermediate role in the distribution once both the coverage and the quality issues of the present IENCs are resolved. Once the coverage and the quality issues of the present IENCs are resolved, they would prefer to concentrate on the development and sales of Inland ECDIS viewer software and the supply of valueadded information 13. The effect is that it may take several months between issuing an update or a new edition by a waterway authority and it being installed on board of the vessels. Even worse, if a software producer ceases to exist vessels that have the Inland ECDIS software of this producer will not be able to update their IENCs at all, not only because they will not receive updates anymore, but also because generally the onboard software does not allow skipper to install (updates to) IENCs not being delivered by the relevant software producer 14. Users of the software of such company would thus be forced to buy new Inland ECDIS software (and possibly hardware) from another company a well as a new coverage with IENCs in the proprietary format of the new Inland ECDIS software. Not only does this take considerable time (buying, delivery and installation), but it does also involve large amounts of money being wasted E.g. location and contact information of suppliers, repair facilities, doctors, etc. The author of this report recently was confronted with a similar situation for his maritime ENCs. After server issues at his reseller no ENC updates or new ENC editions were received for more than a month. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 20

22 The principle of RIS the distribution of organized information in a standardised format is only maintained by very few resellers. Presently there is only one reseller that redistributes all freely available IENC free of charge too. The uneven cost of charged IENC together with the unwillingness of part of the end users to pay the full cost of these IENC will force all resellers to stop this free of charge redistribution, and some of them will even be forced to leave the standardized Inland ECDIS format altogether, because of the rather heavy requirements of this format. If RIS is to survive, free IENC are an indispensable requirement! via national websites The present distribution of free-of-charge IENCs in S-57 format has a number of limitations: The number of websites to visit if one is operating in the larger part of Europe. Not all websites provide another language than the national language. If another language is provided this generally is English, whereas many of the skippers are not (yet) proficient in the English language. Thus IENCs are sometimes very hard to find. The individual national websites have their own unique organisation, further complicating finding the IENCs. Only a few countries provide services to notify end-users of updates and new editions of their IENCs. Thus necessitating users to regularly visit the other websites to check if new updates or editions are available. Apart from the different decisions being made at the waterway authorities also different characteristics of the individual waterways require a different update frequency. This makes it difficult for the end-user to decide how frequently to check these websites. The model of distribution via national websites of IENCs in S-57 format is further hampered by the fact that a number of the on-board Inland ECDIS applications either do not (yet) allow the skipper to install (updates to) IENCs not being delivered by the software producer or make installing/ updating a (too) complicated manoeuvre for the average user. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 21

23 4 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR IENC DISTRIBUTION 4.1 Proposal Based on the observations in the previous the following solution for the distribution of IENCs in Europe is made. This solution aims to promote the use of River Information Services on board of inland vessels by taking away (some of) the present burden of the skippers and at the same time increasing the likelihood that inland vessels are having the latest river information. Thus enhancing both safety and efficiency. The proposal consists of the introduction of a European portal for IENCs that is open to every end-user. This EU IENC Portal is being actively fed 15 by the IENC producing member states as well as by IENC producing non-member states that are willing to participate with their national IENCs, IENC updates and IENC new editions in S-57 based exchange sets according to the Inland ECDIS Standard. The EU IENC Portal acts purely as a conduit. The responsibility of the provision, quality and content of the IENCs remains at (the waterway authorities of) the member states and participating non-member states 16. The participating countries may decide to either continue providing their IENCs (additionally) via their national website or link to the EU IENC Portal. The EU IENC Portal provides end-users with the possibility to subscribe to a notification service that announces the availability of IENC updates and IENC new editions. In its most simple appearance this may a general announcement covering all IENCs. Preferably however it should be possible to select one s area of operation 17. Since the textual part of the website can be very limited it should be feasible to provide the EU IENC Portal in all relevant languages. Finally it is important that the Commission encourages the software producers to allow respectively enhance the user-friendliness of importing IENCs, IENC updates and IENC new editions in S-57 based exchange sets according to the Inland ECDIS Standard Links to the IENCs on the national websites would still require considerable effort from the side of the end-user and would complicate a notification service. This different from the RENC concept of for PRIMAR and IC-ENC in the maritime world which undertake additional quality checks on the ENCs of the participating countries. An intermediate step might be the selection of countries. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 22

24 5 CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Without IENCs no RIS Without IENCs and a reliable IENC distribution model River Information Services cannot exist. Reliable, up-to-date and accountable IENCs cannot be produced and maintained without government subsidies. 5.2 Sustainable solution for IENC distribution A European portal for IENCs has been proposed. It is believed that this proposal would greatly enhance the distribution of IENCs and increase the likelihood of up-todate river information on board. Thus enhancing the effectiveness of RIS and consequently safety and efficiency. At the same time an EU IENC Portal will only be accepted in the market and thus be effective if the presently limited coverage, quality and/or up-to-date-ness of the IENCs of a number of countries is addressed. 5.3 Present coverage It appears that a number of European countries either have not yet produced IENCs or do not (yet) distribute their IENCs to the end-users (e.g. skippers, software producers). Although this was not the aim of this study it appears that the quality, content, upto-date-ness and coverage of IENCs varies greatly among countries. Some of the software producers/ resellers produce additional private IENC coverage and/or enhance the official IENCs either to compensate for this lack of coverage, quality and/ or content. However since the content, coverage and distribution of these IENCs is unknown, these IENCs cannot be relied on in River Information Services. 5.4 Present distribution to end-users The uneven cost of charged IENC together with the unwillingness of (part of) the end users to pay the full cost of these IENC will force resellers to stop the free of charge redistribution. Some of them may leave the standardized Inland ECDIS format altogether, because of the rather heavy requirements of this format. If RIS is to survive, free IENC are an indispensable requirement! Only Austria and Hungary distribute their IENCs in Exchange Sets according to the Inland ECDIS Standard. For Austria this also applies for the regularly produced IENC updates and IENC new editions. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 23

25 Germany, France and the Ukraine are charging money for their IENCs, while some countries are as yet undecided. Germany, France and the Ukraine are as yet distributing their IENCs via a limited number of contracted resellers. These IENCs are distributed by the software producers/ resellers via CD-ROMs. It is doubtful if these countries even recover the additional administrative costs of this distribution model. The majority of European countries on the other hand have decided to distribute their IENCs free of charge via public websites. For the end-user there are a number of obstacles to actually retrieve these free IENCs directly and therefore the majority of end-users appears to rely on (update) CD-ROMs that are distributed by the software producers also for the free-ofcharge IENCs. of IENCs solely by CD-ROM causes unacceptable delays seriously hampering the functionality of River Information Services. SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 24

26 6 LINKS TO EUROPEAN IENCS Austria Croatia Czech Republic Hungary Netherlands Romania Serbia Switzerland SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 25

27 7 LINKS TO EUROPEAN IENC RESELLERS Periskal Group NoorderSoft Tresco Engineering Innovative Navigation Chart World SevenCs AG & Co. KG SWP 5.3 Inventory of the distribution mechanisms and data availability of Inland ENCs in Europe Page 26