Inland ENCs (IENCs) are official digital vector charts produced by inland waterway authorities in accordance with the International Hydrographic Organisation's (IHO) product specification S-57, extended for use on inland waterways.

NOTE: Because of the technical similarity between IENCs and SOLAS ENCs, both can usually be displayed on both ECDIS and inland navigation systems. However, the inland IENC standard is a superset of the ENC standard. Therefore, an ECDIS system will not normally display inland waterway specific objects and symbols correctly. If you intend to use IENCs on an ECDIS please check your system compatability first.

Available Data Formats

ChartWorld offers IENCs in S-57 (where allowed), S-63 (the most common used data format for the distribution of SOLAS ENCs) and (also, where allowed) the SevenCs SENC format, directENC.

S-57 is the data standard used for the exchange of unencrypted digital hydrographic data between national Hydrographic Offices and a valid data format used by many inland authorities (such as the USACE) and some HOs (most notably NOAA) for the distribution of digital data and products to manufacturers, mariners, and other users.

S-63 describes the IHO standard for encrypted S-57 ENCs. A chart display system (e.g. an ECDIS or an ECS) which displays encrypted S-57 data must be compliant to S-63. Such a system has a unique 'S-63 User permit' (ENC User permit) which is used by the data supplier to produce chart permits that are used to import and display the encrypted ENCs. Most ENCs and some IENCs are distributed in S-63.

directENC is SevenCs proprietary data format. directENC is effectively S-57/S-63 data that has been pre-compiled and optimised for use in electronic navigation systems, such as ECDIS or ECS systems, that are based on the SevenCs EC2007 ECDIS Kernel.

directENC has been tested and approved by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH) to provide "a complete storage and availability of information content of ENC data format S-57, Edition 3.1 without changes and losses".

The primary benefits of directENC formated data are simplified chart management and significantly faster chart import. Please contact ChartWorld for details of ECDIS and ECS systems that are compatible with the dENC data format.

Terms & Conditions

ChartWorld's General Standard Purchase Terms and Conditions (GSPTC), General Standard License Terms and Conditions (GLSTC), and any written Ancilliary Contracts between ChartWorld and the Customer govern all agreements between ChartWorld and its Customers for the supply of ENCs, other digital chart data, or other data services.

Subscription Periods

IENCs are typically available with 12 month subscriptions depending on the producing authority.

IENC subscriptions include the right to receive any updates and/or new editions (if any) that may be issued by the producer during the term of the subscription.

Once an IENC subscription has expired or been cancelled, the IENC should be deleted from the ECDIS, ECS or inland navigation system.