ENC Essentials: Getting Started with Electronic Navigational Charts

By the end of 2024, electronic navigational charts (ENC) are projected to be the only official NOAA charts, and all traditional paper charts will have been discontinued and NOAA is on schedule to remove the rest as announced. These charts are being replaced by new (reschemed) versions of electronic navigational charts (ENC) that have been in use for over 15 years in ocean shipping, but have not been used much by recreational and other commercial mariners.

As of October, 2023, over 60% of paper charts have been permanently removed, and hundreds of new ENC have replaced them.

ENC contain much more information than paper charts do, they are easier to keep up to date, and they add notable safety features to navigation-each chart is a dynamic prescription for drawing the chart that knows where all hazards lie, and therefore our electronic chart system (ECS) in use can warn us of their approach.

But ENC look different and are structured differently than paper charts. The safe use of ENC requires new knowledge on charts and chart reading.

This booklet is a quick guide to how to use these powerful electronic charts, which will very shortly be what we mean when we say "nautical chart."