|
Representatives from the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS) and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) have signed a co-operative arrangement that will see both Australian and New Zealand Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) distributed through the Australian Regional ENC Co-ordination Centre (AusRENC) - a satellite office of the International Centre for ENCs (IC-ENC).
IC-ENC operates from two offices with the headquarters being in the UK and together with AusRENC now have agreements with 28 member nations, 20 of which currently have ENC data flowing through IC-ENC appointed re-sellers to the market.
This new arrangement will see LINZ join the AusRENC as a participating Hydrographic Office for the regional co-operation of RENC activities and will better facilitate the international distribution of South West Pacific ENCs.
“This agreement, between Australia and New Zealand, brings to fruition the vision of a regional ENC co-ordination centre, a centre that ensures that each ENC will contain consistent, quality information, data integrity and will be internationally available to the mariner” said CDRE Nairn, Hydrographer of Australia.
“It (the agreement) is a further example of the close co-operation between Australia and New Zealand on hydrographic surveying and charting and is a step forward in the achievement of ENC coverage in the South West Pacific region.” said Mr Mike Prince, Director, Charting and Information Management at the AHS.
Mr Geoff Howard, Mr Adam Greenland, and Ms Verena Borsos from LINZ Hydrographic Services and Mr Gavin Thompson from New Zealand Geospatial Intelligence Organisation (NZGIO) , met with key AHS staff at the Wollongong headquarters of the AHS to hold the final discussions before the agreement was signed.
“This agreement formally establishes the co-operation within the South West Pacific Region and is the culmination of years of work to produce and distribute New Zealand electronic charts” said Mr Adam Greenland, Technical Leader Hydrography, LINZ, after the signing.
Mr Nick Ligacs, Manager, AusRENC Operations at the AHS said, “Many months of negotiations have led to this point and the signing of today’s international distribution agreement is a great result for both our countries and for the mariner.” |
