Electronic Chart Centre AS is

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

government enterprise A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

created in 1999 to create and publish

nautical chart A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land (topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the coa ...

s for use by

ships A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

and

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

. The company was originally part of

Statens Kartverk The Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) ( no, Statens kartverk ''or'' Kartverket, italic=invert) is Norway's national mapping agency, dealing with land surveying, geodesy, hydrographic surveying, cadastre and cartography. The current director is ...

The Electronic Chart Centre is based in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

and has 15 employees. ECC AS is responsible for the technical operation PRIMAR ENC service in cooperation with Statens Kartverk - sjø.

History

The industrial development in the 1980s resulted in the development of new digital equipment for the integration of chart data and NavStar GPS (Global Positioning System). The concept allowed navigators to see their own vessels in real-time motion on a computer screen, and should thus revolutionise ship navigation. Under the leadership of the Norwegian Mapping Authority (a division of the Norwegian Mapping Authority), both were initiated international and national projects with participation from several nautical charts, public maritime authorities, industry and The Norwegian Veritas (Det norske Veritas). The goal was to gain knowledge and experience for future development of international standards for map data and navigation equipment, through operational trials on ships in international traffic. This work was led by Asbjørn Kyrkjeeide, employed by the Norwegian Mapping Authority. The results from the projects were available in 1991, and formed the basis for a further work with an international standard for authorized electronic chart data (ENC) and an international standard for electronic chart machines (EDCIS). The work with the latter standard was led by Øivind Stene, at that time head of the Norwegian Mapping Authority at Sea
Sjøkartverket
, and later head of the Norwegian Mapping Authority
Kartverket
. Norway, through Robert Sandvik (CEO of ECC 2011 - 2014), then led the work of developing an international encryption standard for ENC. This is still used by nautical charters, shipping and the maritime industry worldwide. As a follow-up to the projects, the international electronic chart activity in Norway

References

External links

Electronic Chart Centre web site

PRIMAR ENC Service web site
Map companies of Norway Business services companies of Norway Government-owned companies of Norway Publishing companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in Norway {{norway-gov-stub