NtM Chart-correction XML
XML chart correction examples for comparison
French XML
Description by Shom: NtM chart corrections in XML are produced since the beginning of 2018, with CARIS “Publication module” customized for Shom. They are used by our internal process for the production of our weekly NtM booklet (pdf) and NtM website. The XML also contains some internal data. The XML doesn’t contain the chart correction number. It is added later in the process as well as the link with the tracing and with the possible NtM block (graphical chart-updating). One NtM may concern several charts to be updated. The XML refers to a font (TrueTypeFont) for the graphical feature which is subject of the instruction. The chart corrections are in French and a glossary French-English is available in our weekly NtM booklet and NtM website [(http://gan.shom.fr/ganl/htdocs/FR_home.htm)]. We also convert the XML in GML for internal checking purposes using the geometry of NtM (graphical display). In the examples below, one file containts the chart corrections for one weekly NtM booklet.
Examples: File:Xml fr.zip
Contacts: pierre-yves.le.moigne@shom.fr, jonathan.mouton@shom.fr
Comments:
German XML
Description by BSH
Examples File:DE xml.zip
Contacts: daniel[dot]zuehr[at]bsh[dot]de
Comments:
Italian NtM
Dwscription by Italian HO
Examples File:Italian NtM.zip
Contacts: ludovico_sturla[at]marina[dot]difesa[dot]it
Comments:
Conventions Summary
Conventions
Multiple use of XML, Notice(s) applicable for one chart, notice applicable for several charts
The data model to be developed should be able to handle both versions. If the setup is such, that every chart-correction can have a reference to one or several charts [1..*], it is up to the producer to decide whether corrections are repeated chart-by-chart or each correction has a reference to all affected charts. The German XML version shows that it should be possible to create a data structure that supports both versions.
UML Diagram
Simplified UML Diagram presenting the conceptual structure of a Notice to mariner in the FTA- system.
Notice
Each NoticeToMariner represents one single Notice.
NoticeContent
Each notice can contain any number of NoticeContent. NoticeContent is an abstract object, which can represent any of three types of content.
- TextContent is a simple text-field, that can store simple (unformatted) text.
- ImageContent is any image added to the notice. Usually these are images of the chart to be corrected.
- ChartCorrectionContent is a complex structure that includes a combination of an S-4 standard action (ADD, DELETE etc.), INT- symbols, standard phrases /commands and additional textual explanations.
Each NoticeContent has a reference to a ChartImage, which in turn has a reference to the ChartProduct it belongs to. A chart product is here assumed to be a given edition of a chart.
ChartCorrectionContent
The ChartCorrectionContent is the structure holding the actual chart-correction. The table below shows the tabular display translation of one ChartCorrectionContent, with 3 ChartCorrectionTextrows and 5 ChartCorrectionPositions
- The first row could contain INT- symbols and a textual note, which are attributes of ChartCorrectionContent
- The following rows could contain data stored in ChartCorrectionTextrows
| Action |
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Images and Symbols
Format
TIFF
PNG
SVG
LS:
Italy prefers to have them in a true type font format (like Arial, Times New Roman etc). They can be easily managed by all the production systems, while I see difficulties of tiff and svg formats.
How to display a wreck with the least depth known? With a tiff image of a general wreck and beside the text with the depth value and Wk abbreviation?
JS-F: The True Type Format could be seen as along term goal. Germany could possibly provide a tool which generates TIFF images for symbols with variable values on the fly. However, the XML should be written in a way that the symbols format is of less relevance. More inportant is to check the IHO capability to host a set of symbols and the provision of a "text description" of each symbol. The latter could be used as a universal translation tool between different symbol libraries.
Repository
Symbols can be stored by each HO individually.
Should we try to convince the IHO Secretariat to host a repository (database) of symbols (similar to INT1) in a discrete format (to be defined) and a textual description associated to each symbol?
HOs can then download the data sets and use them in their production systems. It should be discussed how the generation/drawing of symbols can be managed. Is an appropriate online tool available on the market? Should we approach the Secretariat to contract the developement of such an online tool? Can HO(s) volunteer to contract the development?
Generation
use of predefined set(s)
customise as appropriate, e.g. depth with depth contour
Status of correction
Following status versions are appliable:
Published
PUBLISHED notices are those, which are in force.
Cancelled
CANCELLED notices are those, which are cancelled by a new notice.
CANCELLED notices are those, which are not showing up on the "T&P in force" list.
Deactivated
DEACTIVATED notices are those, which are not active anymore due to any several (internal or external) reasons, e.g. a new edition of a chart makes it superfluous
DEACTIVATED notices are those, which are not showing up on the "T&P in force" list
Chart corrections and General notifications
Chart corrections
Instruction where to place a block, e.g ADD block in position xxx.xxx, yyy.yyy
Instructions according to IHO Standard S-4
Use of GML coordinate encoding at the backend but at the front end the coordinates should be presented as 00°00,000'N 000°00,000'E, less decimals are possible if source or chart scale make it necessary
Do we need to provide information on corrections of corrections (Pierre-Yves raises this question)? Or can we say that all corrections are independant corrections and if one needs to correct erratums, a new correction should be generated without mentioneing that it corrects erratums?
Stefan: In the FI system is a function for a notice to cancel another previously published notice. We are using this functionality for corrections to previous notices.
Also re-issuing or cancelling T&P notices is made using this same functionality
Ludovico: In the case we made an error on a notice, we produce another notice to correct the chart and not the notice: this because from our experience, the mariners do not track and collect the number of notices and their history, but they reported manually the corrections on the affected charts when they receive the notices (except for T&P notices that should be charted in pencil and being tracked for cancellation purpose).
Just for internal use and for letting the mariners know that in the real word there is no change to the previous situation but only a difference of that is represented on the chart, we use the letter “(R)” beside the notice number.
P&T Notices
It should be no difference between T&P and regular notices. All notices are similar in structure, and only an attribute flag is indicating a notice as T or P.
P&T notices can have following status:
PUBLISHED - in force
CANCELLED - no longer in force due to cancellation by another P&T notice, or by a full notice (appropriate information must be provided)
DEACTIVATED- no longer in force due to HO internal processes (appropriate information must not be provided)
LS:
Italy divides notice into 2 different types: standard and temporary/preliminary, this because they have different attributes and behaviours, especially considering what reported in S4.
In addition, for T&P notices there can be also the case they can be cancelled without issuing another notice (internally, for the production system, this is a new notice anyway, but its notice number will not appear to the mariner).
JS-F: Can we provide a small comparision table presenting what the differences in S-4 are?
In any case, the question is, could we agree on the three P&T status level?
Ludovico:
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General notification
The question is here, are general notification messages such as "New Chart/Edition"? Ludovico: For Italy, the announcement of a New Chart/Edition is not given in the chart section of the bulletin, while it's given at the beginning of it in the various information provide to the mariners. When the New Chart/Edition comes in force a catalogue notice is made.
Language
The corrections should be provided in multiple languages.
SE: In the UML there is a separate class MultilangString to indicate which attributes currently need to be provided in several languages. For example chart-texts are not translated. I think the easiest way to achieve support for several languages would be to provide each language in a separate file.
LS:
For multilingual purpose, we have 2 options:
1) In case of textual description, we use 2 tags (DESCRIPTION for italian language and ENGLISH_DESCRIPTION for english), with the addition of CAUTION, if the case.
Example:
DESCRIPTION Una condotta sottomarina congiungente i punti: a) Lat – long
ENGLISH_DESCRIPTION Submarine pipeline joining the following points: b) Lat – long
Or
DESCRIPTION Inserire l’avvertenza n. 4 sotto il titolo ENGLISH_DESCRIPTION Insert caution n.4 under the chart title CAUTION Avvertanza n . 4 – Caution n. 4: text text text
2) In case of symbols and abbreviations/associated text, we use 2 different tags: SYMBOL and FEATURE_CHARACTERISTICS. In this case there is no difference between langages.
Example:
SYMBOL FEATURE_CHARACTERISTICS
Fl(1)R3s6M
Block correction
Block corrections are to be created as separate geo-referenced PDF-documents / files.
A link to the block is added to the Notice. The provision of the block centre geo-reference is optional.
The separate geo-referenced PDF-documents / files should also be made available for download.
Images providing correction advice
Larger images assisting the chart-correction can be added as ImageContent.