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Preface
The purpose of this Glossary of ECDIS-related terms is to facilitate reading and interpreting the
standards and specifications related to ECDIS issued by IMO and IHO, namely the ECDIS Performance
Standards, the IHO Special Publications S-52 (including its Appendices) and S-57.
This 3rd edition has been developed by the Glossary Working Group of the IHO Committee on
Hydrographic Requirements for Information Systems (CHRIS). It has been completely revised based on the
latest editions of the relevant ECDIS-related standards and specifications.
The reader should be aware that it is not intended to cover everythingthat has a bearing on ECDIS,
and that many definitions only reflect a rather narrow meaning the terms have in conjunction with ECDIS.
The Glossary, therefore, should not be used as general reference for hydrographic, navigational or
information technology terms. Some of the relevant IHO specifications contain a glossary of terms on their
own. Only those definitions which have a wider use beyond the limits of a particular publication have been
incorporated from these specific glossaries.
The "invention" of new definitions has been avoided as far as possible. Use has been made instead
of either general dictionaries such as the Hydrographic Dictionary (IHO Special Publication S-32), and
Bowditch, or of other relevant documents. References are provided in square brackets. It should be noted
that sometimes a definition taken from another source may be an excerpt from the original definition, or is
slightly modified in order to better meet ECDIS terminology. Where it was felt, however, that the special
meaning of a term in conjunction with ECDIS requires a correspondingly specialized approach, new
definitions were developed.
Advantage has been taken of guidelines provided in the "Short guide for writing definitions"
published by the ISO TC211 Committee [ISO]. In particular, an attempt has been made to separate the
core of the definition from any additional explanations, examples etc. through the addition of Notes.
All entries to the Glossary are given in lower case, except acronyms and proper names. Cross
references to other definitions in the Glossary are provided byitalicizing the respective term.Acronymsare
integrated in the Glossary with cross references. Some illustrations are annexed to the Glossary to show
relationships between terms.
Any suggestions for improvement, corrections and extensions are welcome. As the Working Group
will be disbanded on publication of this edition, comments should be addressed to the Chairman of CHRIS
through the International Hydrographic Bureau.