Application of geodatabase dedicated for bathymetric data during the production of electronic navigational charts for inland shipping

Digital hydrographic products include the ENC Electronic Navigational Charts and the IENC Inland Electronic Navigational Charts used for inland shipping. The process of IENC production comprises data acquisition and editing. Each object belongs to a class specified in the applicable standards and possesses necessary attributes. IENC cells include, among others, data related to depths in a given water body. Contemporary bathymetric measuring systems allow for saving more and more data of increased quality. Examples of systems characterized by the ability to acquisition high density data are interferometer systems. The authors of this article used GeoSwath Plus 250 kHz sonar system to collect bathymetric data. Bathymetric data included in the IENC cell should be up to date, structured and easy to manage. A piece of software by the ESRI Company, also dedicated to creating hydrographic products, allows to do just that. The authors have used a specialized geodatabase during the IENC production, which made managing bathymetric data easier. The article describes an analysis of the geodatabase’s functionality during the production of electronic navigational chart for inland shipping.