Hydrographic Services and Standards Committee discusses progress in standards

All the HSSC’s working groups and project teams reported on progress made over the year and on outstanding achievements since 9 major IHO standards were submitted this year either for Committee endorsement or approval (For more info: https://iho.int/en/standards-and-specifications). Those approved as Edition 1.0.0 are now ready for experimenting and testing before regular use in liaison with industry partners. This is the case for S-98 which is a core component of the S-100 Implementation Roadmap, as it deals with Data Product Interoperability in S-100 Navigation Systems. This standard determines how new S-100 based products such as S-102 - Bathymetric Surface, S-104 - Water Level Information for Surface Navigation, S-111 - Surface Currents, S-124 - Navigational Warnings, will work together with S-101 ENCs and are displayed on new S-100 ECDIS.

For most Hydrographic Offices, the main question is how and when they should start investing resources in the transition phase for moving from S-57 ENCs production to S-101 ENCs development, and other S-100 based products? This was addressed on several occasions. To pave the way, a 1^st version of a governance document named “Dual-Fuel Concept for S-100 ECDIS” was endorsed by HSSC for submission to the IHO Council in October. Work items and guidelines for ENC conversion from S-57 to S-101 and vice-versa are now on track for being developed towards operational stages.

Participants endorsed a revision of the IHO Standards for Hydrographic Surveys (S-44) submitted by the new Hydrographic Surveys Working Group (HSWG). This new Edition includes clarifications on several terms (reference frame/system, uncertainty component, etc.) and some insertions (total vertical uncertainty equation, etc.). The HSSC also welcomed the establishment of 2 new Project Teams within the HSWG, one in charge of the revision of C-13 - Manual on Hydrography and the second on Satellite Derived Bathymetry.
The new Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) Navigation Project Team, responsible for the analysis of MASS navigation requirements on current hydrographic standards, provided a very promising update on its work plan.

This HSSC meeting was the 1^st in person gathering after 2 years of pandemic, offering opportunities to participants to debate and discuss in the margins.

At the end of the meeting, chaired by Mr Magnus Wallhagen (SMA, Sweden), the participants unanimously applauded the excellent hosting arrangements.