Admiralty Vector Chart Service Moves to S-63
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has announced details of its forthcoming upgrade of the ADMIRALTY Vector Chart Service (AVCS) CD Service to S-63 Edition 1.1, the latest international open-format security standard for digital chart data. This is in conjunction with the publication of the UKHO's advice to users on how to make the transition when the upgraded AVCS CD Service goes live on 17 October 2013.
S-63 is an industry standard overseen by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) that provides Hydrographic Offices and ECDIS manufacturers with the tools to protect, via encryption, the data within Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) and to authenticate the originator of the ENCs. It is an open format system that provides a common set of security constructs and operating procedures, followed by Hydrographic Offices and ECDIS manufacturers around the world.
In response to the evolving challenges to data security, the IHO has upgraded S-63 with the latest Edition, 1.1, which is now available. S-63 Edition 1.0 will be withdrawn by the IHO on 31 December 2013 and ENC service providers that deliver data in S-63 format will be required to use Edition 1.1 from 1 January 2014.
In order to comply with these requirements and to give users all the benefits of the upgraded S-63 security standard, the AVCS CD Service will upgrade to S-63 1.1 from 17 October 2013 (week 42/2013). From that date, AVCS CD users will no longer receive 1.0 format disks, unless specifically requested via their ADMIRALTY Chart Agent.
AVCS with S-63 1.1 is already available in a DVD format, with further benefits for customers, including the entire ENC dataset on a single DVD every week, removing the need for base disk re-issues, and improved data loading. There is no extra cost to upgrade to S-63 Edition 1.1 on CD or DVD.
UKHO supports AVCS customers that are making the transition of AVCS to S-63 1.1, including a list of compatible ECDIS models, individual ECDIS installation guides and videos, all of which can be found under the S-63 tab.
