Nautical information
Mis à jour le 19/07/2024
Safe sailing
For sailors, whether civilian or military, commercial, fishing or pleasure, safe navigation means having the best information to understand the maritime area from a nautical point of view, to find your way around and choose your route, taking into account weather conditions and traffic.
The information you need
Bathymetry and underwater obstacles, coastal topography and markings, restricted navigation zones, offshore installations, ports and their approaches, radio services, the tide, currents, new dangers (an extinguished lighthouse, a drifting container, a firing exercise, a newly discovered shoal, etc.) are all subjects that need to be described to the navigator to help him in his analyses and decisions, to prepare and follow his route. The nautical chart, whether printed or digital (in the form of a database or image), is the emblematic medium for this information, but it alone cannot convey all the information in the appropriate timeframe.
Nautical information, from navigational warnings to nautical charts
Maritime space is evolving, and the relevant information and the way in which it is delivered to mariners constitute nautical information. This takes several complementary forms, depending on the nature of the information and the degree of importance and urgency attached to it.
Thus, nautical information is conveyed by :
- urgent navigational warnings broadcast on radio
- local notices to mariners,
- Shom's nautical products and services, including nautical charts and the nautical publications that complement them, and their updates.
These nautical information services are organised worldwide under the aegis of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as part of the SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) convention ratified by France.
A participative organisation
This obviously presupposes an organisation at national level to collect, process and disseminate nautical information in its various forms. This organisation, which is the subject of an instruction from the Prime Minister (NOR: PRMM2002228A) and for which the Shom is the national coordinator, involves numerous maritime services and administrations as well as public and private operators and users, who are the best observers at sea.
Everyone's participation in this flow of information benefits the maritime community and contributes to efficient and safe navigation in French waters.
PING, the national nautical information platform
Centralising nautical information at national level, PING is a site that enables the entire maritime community to pass on this information. Once it has been processed by the maritime authorities, it is put online for everyone to see. Modernising the existing system, PING embodies the national organisation of nautical information and encourages its widespread dissemination through digitisation. The platform is co-published by Shom and the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA).
Shom products and services
Informed by the data and information collected, the Shom integrates new elements into its nautical products (charts and their supplements) when their validity period is compatible with the product update period. The rigorous production processes mobilise experts in several fields to gather data, qualify and compile it, and produce information tailored to navigation in compliance with applicable standards, such as marine cartography standards.
Given the international nature of navigation, it is important to harmonise products and services. The Shom plays an active role in standardisation work, particularly within the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO). One of the aims of the Shom and its counterparts in other countries is to adapt products and services even more closely to navigation issues, taking into account advances in technology and changes in traffic.
Major Nautical Commissions (GCN)
The Nautical Commissions allow navigators to be consulted on projects for the construction and conversion of civil facilities of interest to maritime navigation. They were set up by decree no. 86-606 on nautical commissions.
There are local nautical commissions and large nautical commissions, depending on the type of case being investigated.
The large nautical commissions have two permanent members:
- a senior officer from the French Navy, who chairs the committee
- an armament engineer from the Shom.
A new committee is set up to examine each case. The secretariat of the major nautical committee is provided by the Shom.