IIC Involvement with The Inland ENC Harmonization Group

This years Inland ENC Harmonization Group (IEHG) meeting was held 24-26 October 2023 in Chicago, Illinois, and was hosted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The IEHG is focused on harmonizing the standards of IENC use and production for the member countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.

The IEHG is tasked with creating an Encoding Guide for IENC features based on the S-57 Standard, as well as guidance for the private companies creating production, validation and viewing software that is used with IENCs. The current IENC Encoding Guide is up to Edition 2.5 with work currently ongoing to proceed to Edition 2.6 and the future of IENCs. As an IENC producer for USACE, IIC Technologies Mark Hanzsche was able to provide valuable insight to assist in this process.

The IEHG also works closely with the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) to ensure compatibility with ECDIS systems and to build on the base that the S-57 and S-100 standards provide. IEHG is currently working to build the base cell S-401 which closely follows S-101, but adds its own features that are used solely in the Inland Waterway domain. While maintaining a focus on the current S-57 Standard Edition 2.6 Encoding Guide, the IEHG looks towards the future of Inland Navigation with S-401. Work is currently being done on an S-401 Product Specification, Feature Catalog, and Portrayal Catalog.

IIC has a long history of supporting the USACE IENC Program. This year, Mark Hanzsche from the US office attended the IEHG meeting to support USACE and represent IIC. Additionally, Mark was able to host a welcome dinner for all attendees on behalf of IIC.