Six in One or One in Six Variants. Electronic Navigational Charts for Open Sea, Coastal, Off-Shore, Harbour, Sea-River and Inland Navigation

In the paper the author tries to explain problems connected with utilization of the GIS (Geographic Information System) technology and more sensitively speaking its waterborne implementation, ie. the ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) technology and the electronic navigational charts (ENC) in the widely comprehended maritime (open sea, coastal and harbour) and inland navigation which the author does not limit exclusively to river-reservoirs only, but widens also for channels, navigable lakes and areas which can be defined generally as sea-river navigation areas. In the paper author presents the classification of the electronic navigational charts, primary functions and performance standards for electronic chart systems for open sea, coastal, off-shore, harbour, sea-river and inland navigation.