Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services 2003 Annual Assembly

摘要

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency’s (NIMA) Maritime Safety InformationrnDivision is responsible for fulfilling the goal of delivering timely maritime safetyrninformation and services to the U.S. Navy and the civil maritime community.rnNIMA and its predecessor organizations have been compiling and printingrnhardcopy marine charts and publications since the 1800s. The Agency currentlyrncovers the oceans with well over 4,000 commercially available charts of thernwaters outside the limits of U.S. territory. NIMA also produces and maintains arnsuite of 79 nautical publications such as Sailing Directions, List of Lights,rnDistance between Ports and the American Practical Navigator (Bowditch). NIMArnprovides this navigational safety information – either free of charge or at arnminimal cost – to a myriad of customers, including military, civilian, foreign,rndomestic, other U.S. Government organizations, and businesses involved in thernmaritime industry. Compilation time and printing costs, however, are a significantrndrain on resources; so much so, that it is time to weigh other options to achievernthe same end result. Accordingly, a concentrated effort is being made withinrnNIMA’s Maritime Safety Information Division to develop coherent business exitrnstrategies that allow NIMA’s Maritime Division to continue to fulfill its missionrncritical navigational safety requirements in light of dwindling resources andrnbudgetary constraints. In conjunction, the Maritime Division will continue tornenhance its e-commerce business strategy, in anticipation that it will facilitate andrnenable the evolution from traditional hardcopy products to an all-digital datacentricrnbusiness environment.rnThis paper will address current initiatives being implemented at NIMA to facilitaternthe commercial exit strategies of hardcopy charts and publications and therntransformation of NIMA’s Maritime Safety website.