Defence Codex - The journal for defence engineering & science

UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO)

Taunton is 75 miles from Plymouth yet this inland town is the home of MOD's UK Hydrographic Office which plays a crucial role in supporting and guiding the Royal Navy (RN) as well as other mariners around the world. The UKHO have been charting the seas for over 200 years giving the Armed Forces operational advantage through the provision of accurate charts and other products to enhance navigation and situational awareness. Codex took a sail round their base to find out what they are offering today's mariners.

Mention the Hydrographic Office and many people would be unsure about exactly what they do. Hydrography is the science of surveying and charting bodies of water but no longer accurately describes the importance and range of UKHO's work. As part of MOD they provide navigational products and services to the RN and merchant shipping, enabling them to comply with Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations. They are also a 'Trading Fund' which means they provide a number of commercial services and are required to partially fund themselves.

Although their primary output is the production of charts for navigational safety (with Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) increasingly in demand) they are keen to point out that they offer a wide range of other services and expertise. They share their skills and resources with other Hydrographic Offices around the world and work with the RN to coordinate capacity-building projects. Their consultancy service includes training, technical advisory visits and seminars and they can provide survey programme management as either a complete service or working in conjunction with other partners.

Other areas of defence work include providing information on the ocean bottom and beach permeability. The science of the ocean bed is useful for military intelligence and has wider applications such as helping with fish studies, encouraging awareness of environmental issues and enabling better use of resources.

Charting is a fascinating business and the Taunton base has just under 1,000 employees. It is here that they gather the information and then make a graphical representation of the maritime area and adjacent coastline. This will show the coastline and location, and features navigational aids such as buoys, lighthouses, water depths and land height. It also provides information on tides and currents, natural features of the seabed, navigational hazards, the Earth's magnetic field and structures such as harbours and bridges.

It is estimated that 70% of international shipping use UKHO charts, which include 3,300 Standard National Charts and 160 Navigational Publications. Their range of digital products and services continues to grow, reflecting the growth of this market. ENCs are digital vector charts produced to International Hydrographic (IHO) standards meeting SOLAS regulations.

ENCs are produced by, or for, a government and comply with international standards. UKHO ensures that all ENCs pass rigorous quality assessment such as checking to ensure that they will load and display correctly on ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) equipment and that any navigational differences from the paper chart are identified and investigated. When additional information is available this is displayed by an added layer which is exclusive to the service. Updates are issued weekly either online or on CD at no additional cost.

Defence Customer Relations Staff Officer, Lieutenant Commander Bruce Badrock, is based at UKHO and is keen to describe how their service has developed: “We set up 200 years ago as a chart factory producing charts and a few publications which were focused entirely on safe navigation. These were originally for the fleet but we go out to a much broader audience.”

There is an international mandatory requirement for the UK to chart its waters but it is not allowed, by International agreement, to chart other peoples' coastal waters. By bilateral agreement it is possible to take responsibility on behalf of another country to chart their waters, but in the first instance it is the prerogative of the nation to chart its own coastal area.

Although producing paper charts is still UKHO's primary role they are increasingly involved with the electronic versions but Badrock insists that the paper product will continue to be important. “The electronic version is used for much more than safe navigation at sea, but the paper product is still king in most circumstances and will probably remain so for quite a long time.”

This, he believes, is mainly due to the cost and infrastructure requirements for electronic charts, although he speculates that electronic charting will be mandatory in the future. “It is anticipated that between 2010 and 2012 electronic charting will be a carriage requirement, but the paper version will always be in demand because you can carry it around, draw on it and manipulate it easier than you can on a PC.” With the electronic chart offering advantages such as notification of land or navigation hazards (background features that can't be seen on a paper chart), it is clear that they offer advances and will continue to develop. The downside is that they are expensive to create and are only likely to be commercially viable in areas of high demand. Badrock says that demand and saleability dictates which areas receive priority for electronic charting. “Paper charting that provides safe navigation in the Antarctic is probably never going to be a commercial proposition.”

Badrock is proud of their reputation and how some people will carry UKHO charts in addition to requirements: “In American waters they have to carry the American charts as a carriage requirement. But many are buying our product over and above what is required because they trust the quality, safety and integrity. We also have a unique selling position as we underwrite the product completely with no financial limit.”

He explains that this means that if they fail to make information available and as a result there is a shipping loss, they will pick up the tab. Fortunately in 200 years UKHO have never had to pay up!