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Canadian
Electronic
Chart Fight Continues
Last winter a royalty fight flared up between the two major manufacturers
of chart cards and a small company called Nautical Data International
(NDI), which has the exclusive right to sell and/or license electronic
versions of Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) charts. (For more details,
see “Electronics,” April 2004.) For a while C-Map and Navionics
had to stop offering Canadian chart cartridges, causing considerable concern
amongst Canadian and border-state boaters. Then, as the season loomed
and negotiations dragged on, the two chart vendors decided to sell their
products without an NDI license, putting some of the proceeds in escrow
for eventual royalty payment. NDI sued, and the matter is currently being
argued in a Toronto courtroom. If NDI prevails, expect increased chart
prices to compensate for royalty fees that C-Map and Navionics say are
well above international norms.
The bigger picture is
that international norms seem to be changing, even disintegrating, and
chart costs will become more variable from one country to another. I’m
told that some foreign hydrographic authorities will soon instigate significant
royalty increases on the theory that users, not taxpayers, should finance
data collection. Meanwhile, the U.S. government takes the opposite approach,
claiming no copyright on data. NOAA is now actually giving away charts
in PC format, which is encouraging increased competition—around chart
features and pricing—among the vendors.
GPS-Equipped
EPIRB and PLB Problems Solved
In January and July I reported not only on the terrific advancements being
made in the worldwide satellite rescue system known as COSPAS-SARSAT,
but also on testing done by the Equipped to Survive Foundation (ETS) that
revealed significant performance issues with the optional (but valuable)
GPS self-location feature on McMurdo EPIRBs and PLBs. The company subsequently
offered a free upgrade to such units ( 800-576-2605
for more information) and then conducted another round of tests similar
to ETS’s. West Marine participated in both tests, and company representative
Chuck Hawley says he was “very impressed” with the ability of
the upgraded McMurdo beacons to get GPS fixes in the simulated real-world
conditions.
This issue highlighted
both the need for tougher standards on safety gear and the value of independent
testing organizations like ETS. Hawley notes that the testing was “a
great learning experience for us and I believe the industry as well”
and that West Marine, along with BoatU.S., will sponsor more ETS rescue
beacon tests this winter.
Homeland
GPS Spoofing Detected?
Back in April 2002 I wrote about how vulnerable the GPS system is
to jamming and spoofing. So far the feared possibilities have not materialized.
In fact, the vulnerability may be contributing to our security. A recent
issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology reports that large GPS errors
have been noted in the vicinity of several nuclear facilities. Researchers
driving within a quarter mile of these plants found that GPS units from
multiple manufacturers all indicated speeds twice what they were actually
making and altitudes off by thousands of feet (position errors are not
mentioned). Pilots near one facility also noted “anomalies.”
The magazine theorized, “such gross errors could be induced by transmitting
low-power ‘corrections’ and could effectively ‘spoof’
a cruise missile or other [GPS] guided weapon.” A U.S. government
official queried on the issue replied, “Those are areas we just don’t
talk about.” There are few locations where a boater might navigate
that close to a nuclear facility, but the situation should remind us all
that GPS anomalies, whatever the cause, are quite possible.
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