McDonald Bradley to use ESRI Toolset to Develop New Nautical Charting System
McDonald Bradley has recently won an US$11.2 million prime contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) to develop the Nautical Charting System II – an enterprise solution for managing chart data. The Company has selected ESRI as a subcontractor on the project. In addition, the team will utilize a software toolset from ESRI as part of the solution.
The NOAA project for the Office of Coast Survey, Marine Chart Division will utilise the ESRI Production Line Tool Set for ArcGIS-Nautical Solution. The toolset is part of the ESRI family of focused, production-oriented applications and end-to-end workflows tailored to specific domains.
The goal of this NOAA programme is to create an enterprise nautical chart production system that collects source data from a myriad of providers, stores the information in a single database, allows cartographers to process the data in a single production line, and produces various paper and electronic charts. Data is obtained from over 50 entities including NOAA Survey Ships, the Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast Guard, and even Power Squadrons. In the current system these data must be applied multiple times, stored in multiple applications, and processed through multiple production lines to create paper or electronic charts.
Built on top of ESRI’s desktop ArcGIS technology, Nautical Solution will provide robust functionality, including the ability to automatically update multiple datasets from edits to a central database. Applications will streamline database editing, product maintenance and quality control by supporting high-volume S-57 and chart production and workflow management.
As the provider of nautical charts for all U.S. coasts and the Great Lakes, NOAA manages data and products covering approximately 11 million square miles. This new solution will enable the Marine Chart Division to quickly and easily produce vital navigation products, ensuring NOAA continues to provide leadership in the international hydrographic community.
