AVCS Overview
The Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS) brings together Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) from national Hydrographic offices around the world and new ENC coverage produced by UKHO in co-operation with Foreign Governments to provide comprehensive, official, worldwide coverage.
Compliant
AVCS contains only ENC data that meets SOLAS Carriage Requirements for use within Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS).
Quality
AVCS meets customer requirements for a comprehensive, world-wide, full carriage compliant electronic chart service. AVCS continues to develop in response to customer feedback through an ongoing programme of enhancements.
UKHO has instituted a programme of assessment by its professional cartographers where the content of the ENC is compared to relevant national paper charts. Any navigationally significant discrepancies identified are then investigated and resolved with the producing nation. No other electronic chart service offers this level of reassurance.
Carriage Compliant
The Admiralty Vector Chart Service only contains ENC data that meets Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Carriage Requirements for use within Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS).
ENCs
Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are digital vector charts produced to the International Hydrographic Organization's (IHO's) standards (S57 Version 3.1 and ENC Product Specification). They are referred to World Geodetic System 1984 Datum (WGS84) and are regularly updated with official update information distributed digitally.
Hydrographic offices do not take any responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of privately produced, unofficial charts.
Purchasing Options
AVCS provides cost-effective coverage of the world's major shipping routes, avoiding the need to purchase unnecessary data. AVCS is sold in two different formats, Folios & Units, offering the ultimate in purchase flexibility.
Folios
AVCS is sold in a series of Folios, which are geographic collections of ENCs selected for a specific purpose (e.g. transiting an area). They are designed to make ordering, maintenance and licensing as easy and flexible as possible. Each Folio is automatically maintained for any relevant changes to ENC coverage.
Transit Folios
These are designed to provide all the coverage needed for a vessel to pass safely through a region when not engaging in local trade, saving you the expense of purchasing detailed coverage for regions that you are just passing through, whilst including more coverage to negotiate the choke points such as the Suez Canal and Malacca Straits.
AVCS Transit Folio Overview | Example Transit Folio
Regional Folios
These cover a much smaller geographical area than Transit Folios and include all Coastal and some Approach ENCs, where coastal coverage is not available. Regional Folios are designed for local and coastal trade, where more detailed coverage of complex coastal waters is required. They do not include Port Approaches or Entry.
AVCS Regional Folio Overview | Example Regional Folio
Port Folios
These typically comprise Approach, Harbor and Berthing cells grouped together into a single sales unit. Under typical operational conditions, vessels approaching a port directly from an ocean passage will require only Transit and Port Folios if not engaging in coastal operation.
Where a number of major ports are grouped in a complex waterway (e.g. Japan's 'Bungo Suido and Western Inland Sea'), a single Port Folio may provide coverage for all the ports in the area.
Example Port Folios
Chart by Chart
Hand-pick individual ENC chart coverage that meets the specific requirements of your Fleet to ensure precise coverage of your shipping routes.
All ENCs in AVCS can be selected on a chart-by-chart basis as ENC Units. These Units are the smallest unit of sale allowed by ENC producers and usually contain ENC data approximately equivalent to a paper chart.
Combination
Combine AVCS Folios of your choice with individual ENC charts for unrivalled coverage and voyage flexibility.
Licensing
AVCS licences are for a 12 month period, within which you will hold an AVCS media pack, containing world-wide AVCS data, receive weekly updates to the AVCS data set and have access to online updates through the Admiralty Updating Service. Within the licence period, AVCS Folios and ENC Units can be added for periods of three, six, nine or twelve months, where data supply agreements allow. This offers maximum choice and the flexibility to match your chart holdings to your operational patterns.
Updating
AVCS includes remote updating software, the Admiralty Updating Service, free of charge. The software can be used to obtain immediate updates to your ENC data, either directly over the Internet or by email, anywhere in the world, at anytime. The service also allows the mariner to actively manage their data holdings with the download of voyage-specific updates, minimising transmission costs for vessels at sea.
An information log is automatically maintained for the Officer of the Watch to ensure continuity during crew changes. All updates are hosted on a secure server and are encrypted and digitally signed to ensure that they are authentic and uncorrupted when you receive them.
Updates to ENC data within AVCS are also supplied weekly on CD as standard, ensuring that every AVCS customer has a complete and up to date set of data on board, with the option to easily access additional data if required.
The Admiralty Digital Catalogue is included free of charge within AVCS.
Periodically changes to the ENC coverage available worldwide make it necessary to cancel and replace both ENC Units and AVCS Folios. The following files contain a cumulative list of the cancelled Units and Folios, along with the Units and Folios that they were replaced by:
AVCS Cancelled and Replaced Folios
Replacements for Cancelled Cells
Withdrawn Cells
Admiralty AVCS and ECDIS Services - data distribution and issue dates
Area CDROM |
Issue Date |
Countries covered |
Base 1 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Denmark DK, Estonia EE, Finland FI, Latvia LV, Poland PL, Sweden SE. |
Base 2 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Norway NO. |
Base 3 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
United Kingdom GB. |
Base 4 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Croatia HR, Greece GR, Italy IT, Portugal PT, Spain ES, Turkey TR,United Kingdom GB. |
Base 5 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
USA US. |
Base 6 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Canada CA |
Base 7 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Australia AU, Bahrain BH, India IN, Japan JP, Korea (Republic of) KR, New Zealand NZ, Pakistan PK, South Africa ZA. |
Base 8 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
Argentina AR, Belgium BE, Brazil BR, Chile CL, Colombia CO, France FR, Germany DE, Iceland IS, Mexico MX, Netherlands NL, Peru PE, Russia RU, Ukraine UA, Uruguay UY, Venezuela VE |
Base 9 |
Week 05, 2nd February 2012 |
China C1, Hong Kong C2, Indonesia ID, Malacca & Singapore Straits MS, Malaysia MY, Philippines PH, Singapore SG, Thailand TH. |
Full Licensing Terms and Conditions
For complete information on Licensing terms and conditions, please see below:
ENC Readme file
End User Licence Agreement
Fixed Annual Cost
With AVCS Folios you can be sure of maintaining access to all the latest information without the need to repeatedly amend your budgets. Any new ENC data that becomes available will be included in the appropriate AVCS Folio at no additional cost for the period of your Licence.
Complete Flexibility
Every AVCS customer is provided with a complete set of Base discs containing every ENC available within the Service. These discs are 'locked' but allow your vessel to carry complete coverage whilst only paying for the folios and charts required. Chart holdings can be upgraded quickly and easily at any point during the licence period, unlocking additional charts to extend your coverage.
Pricing
Prices quoted are in $US and are UK Recommended Retail Price (UK RRP)
A full pricing schedule can be found here
A list of the ENC Unit prices by supplier can be found here.
Support
Support calls should be directed to your AVCS Distributor in the first instance. Where your AVCS Distributor is unable to provide support or assistance please contact UKHO Customers Services:
email CustomerServices@UKHO.gov.uk
phone +44 (0) 1823 723366.
Where a vessel is diverted for commercial reasons an order can be raised through your AVCS Distributor. Your AVCS Distributor will receive the permits within 10 minutes of placing the order on the Admiralty Product Ordering System (APOS) and these can then be forwarded on to you by arrangement with your Distributor.
AVCS User Guide
To download the AVCS user guide please click here.
Data Distribution and Issue Dates
To view the Admiralty ECDIS Service and AVCS Data Distribution and Issue Dates, please select the 'Licensing and Updating' tab above.
Emergency Chart Permits
In certain circumstances it may be necessary for a vessel to get access to an AVCS chart at very short notice, for instance if she has to divert her route due to a medical or safety emergency. In these emergency circumstances, individual AVCS Chart Permits can be obtained from the UKHO 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These Chart Permits can be transmitted direct to the vessel by email wherever possible, by fax, or simply by reading the characters out over the telephone or radio. Each Chart Permit consists of 64 characters.
To obtain an AVCS emergency chart permit please contact UKHO Customer Services, quoting your name and contact details, the vessel name, the User Permit Number of your ECDIS system and the cell number(s) required.
email CustomerServices@UKHO.gov.uk
Phone +44 (0) 1823 723366
Admiralty Information Overlay
The Admiralty Information Overlay is a digital data set that is designed to be displayed over ENCs in ECDIS and other chart display systems to provide additional information to the navigator.
The Overlay contains all Admiralty Temporary & Preliminary Notices to Mariners (T&P NMs) and provides additional preliminary information that is specific to ENCs, such as reported navigational hazards that have been incorporated on paper charts but have not yet been included in ENCs.
The Overlay gives seafarers an easy way to view the information they need, in addition to the standard chart, to navigate safely and compliantly. The Overlay makes passage planning simpler and safer by clearly showing where important Temporary or Preliminary changes may impact a voyage. It also gives seafarers the same consistent picture of the maritime environment on their ECDIS as they have always had with the Admiralty paper chart.
The Overlay includes all Admiralty T&P NMs in force worldwide and additional information that relates specifically to ENCs, published as ENC Preliminary NMs (EP NMs).
The Admiralty Information Overlay User Guide can be downloaded here (PDF).
Compatible Equipment
The Overlay can be displayed on compatible ECDIS equipment and also in Admiralty e-Navigator Planning Station. Please see the Display Systems tab for an up to date list of compatible equipment, or consult your ECDIS supplier. Most ECDIS equipment installed prior to 2011 will require an upgrade before it will be able to display the Overlay.
To ensure the widest possible availability of the Overlay, a free trial version of the Orca Master electronic chart system (ECS) is available from SevenCs that will allow the Overlay to be displayed with a user's subscribed ENCs. A link to the SevenCs website is included in the list of compatible display equipment on the Display Systems tab.
T&P NMs
All Admiralty T&P NMs that are in force are included in the Overlay. Each NM is displayed as a simple red polygon (usually rectangular) with red hatched fill which indicates the area affected by the NM. Each NM carries the same NM number that is used in the Admiralty Notices to Mariners Bulletin.
The full text of the NM is included as an associated text file which can be displayed by selecting the 'Temporary Notice to Mariners' or 'Preliminary Notice to Mariners' feature in the ECDIS Pick Report. Any associated diagrams can also be viewed through the Pick Report.
EP NMs
ENC P (EP) NMs contain additional information that is specific to ENCs and cannot be published as a standard Admiralty T&P NM. These NMs are displayed in the same way as T&P NMs, as a simple red polygon (usually rectangular) with red hatched fill which indicates the area affected by the NM. Each NM is allocated a unique EP NM number.
The full text of the NM can be viewed in the ECDIS Pick Report against the Information attribute. Where additional information is needed to explain the NM an associated picture file displays an image showing the ENC superimposed over the current paper chart information.
To get access to the Admiralty Information Overlay, check that you have a compatible display system and then contact your Admiralty Chart Agent.
AVCS Compatible Display Systems
All type approved ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems) and many unofficial ECS (Electronic Chart Systems) are compatible with AVCS.
The following table lists some of the display systems currently available:
Due to the growth in the number of ENCs (Electronic Navigational Charts) available worldwide, some older ECDIS suffer from performance issues when installing AVCS. Please consult your equipment manufacturer if your ECDIS was installed before January 2009.
AVCS Promotional Video
AVCS Trials Video
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