NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: More on That Grounding in the Philippines
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2013 Aug 06, 09:24 -0700
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2013 Aug 06, 09:24 -0700
Excellent article.
Some on this list will say "if they hadn't used electronics they wouldn't have hit the reef." Not true.
As many have posted before, the skilled navigator uses all sources of information available. The navigator of this ship clearly screwed up by ignoring the crew's reports of sighting the lighthouse.
I'm not sure about the US's NGIA which produces charts of areas outside the US, but the US's National Ocean Survey uses exactly the same database to (automatically) produce paper charts as is used to create electronic ones. Assuming NGIA uses the same technology, "wouldn't have had that problem if they didn't use a chartplotter" is not correct; a paper chart would have shown exactly the same mis-placed reef as the chartplotter did.
Clearly a two-fold screwup -- first by NGIA misplacing the reef, and then by the ship's navigator in ignoring sightings and other data that indicated that his chart was wrong. As most good navigation instructors will say -- if you're not sure about something, STOP and figure it out.
Some on this list will say "if they hadn't used electronics they wouldn't have hit the reef." Not true.
As many have posted before, the skilled navigator uses all sources of information available. The navigator of this ship clearly screwed up by ignoring the crew's reports of sighting the lighthouse.
I'm not sure about the US's NGIA which produces charts of areas outside the US, but the US's National Ocean Survey uses exactly the same database to (automatically) produce paper charts as is used to create electronic ones. Assuming NGIA uses the same technology, "wouldn't have had that problem if they didn't use a chartplotter" is not correct; a paper chart would have shown exactly the same mis-placed reef as the chartplotter did.
Clearly a two-fold screwup -- first by NGIA misplacing the reef, and then by the ship's navigator in ignoring sightings and other data that indicated that his chart was wrong. As most good navigation instructors will say -- if you're not sure about something, STOP and figure it out.
On 8/6/2013 4:43 AM, Richard B. Langley
wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply{at}google.com>
Date: August 5, 2013 11:25:51 PM ADT
To: <lang{at}unb.ca>
Subject: Google Alert - geospatial intelligence
News 1 new result for geospatial intelligence
How a Misplaced Reef on a Digital Chart Destroyed a Navy ... Nextgov Error by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency was compounded by the Navy's reliance on GPS for navigation. facebook; twitter; google; Comments.See all stories on this topic »
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