This year, IC-ENC started to deliver training on ENC Conversion. At the end of April, we held the first regional S-57 to S-101 Conversion Workshop in Muscat, Oman. This was a four-day workshop which covered introductions to S-100, S-101 and ENC conversion, before providing trainees with a variety of practical exercises to complete using our new Learning Cloud Environment. The workshop also covered reverse conversion (S-101 back to S-57) and S-100 production strategies. This is the first of four regional workshops which will be held during 2024, with the other three planned to be held in Amsterdam (July), Brisbane (October) and Panama (December).

Ruth White (IC-ENC Production Support Officer) has led on the development of the Learning Cloud Environment which provides each trainee with their own virtual desktop which is pre-loaded with some of the latest versions of COTS production and validation software tools, such as CARIS Composer and 7Cs Analyzer. This is a huge benefit for our Members, as some do not have access to all of these tools at their home offices.

In addition, we recently held an ENC Quality & Conversion Workshop in Istanbul on w/c 20th May. This workshop was requested, approved and funded by the new IC-ENC “opt in” initiative, and was provided for 10 MBSHC (Mediterranean and Black Seas Hydrographic Commission) Members. The workshop was split into two halves, with the first two days delivered by Alex Wallage (IC-ENC Validator) and the last three days delivered by Laura Tyzack (IC-ENC S-100 Support Officer). The first two days looked at key themes of ENC Quality, including cartographic consistency, conformity and usability. The last three days looked at an introduction to S-100 and S-101, the main differences between S-57 and S-101, why ENC quality matters when converting from S-57 to S-101, what preparation steps can be taken prior to conversion using the IC-ENC Conversion Readiness Checks, and how conversion works in practice. The workshop combined a mixture of theory and practical-based exercises, which again made use of the new Learning Cloud Environment.

We have had some excellent feedback from both workshops, and we are really grateful to the Oman National Hydrographic Office and the Turkish Navy Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography for hosting these events.

We now look forward to the next S-57 to S-101 Conversion Workshop which will take place in Amsterdam w/c 8th July.

For more information, please contact Ruth White or Laura Tyzack or email therenc@ic-enc.org