IP: The Gubmint is about to do it again....

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 21:43:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: mo () UU NET (Mike O'Dell)
To: farber () cis upenn edu


One would think that after the DNS fiasco, the US
Government, especially a branch of the Commerce Department,
would be somewhat cautious about creating a new monopoly


Apparently not so.


This is summarized from an article in the Oct 1998 issue of
Power and Motoryacht magazine.


NOAA is in the process of selecting ONE company to be the
"official source" of electronic vector navigation charts
for the US.  Part of this comes from a bad choice of
language in the new International Maritime Organization
(aka IMO - the internation maritime safety organization)
rules requiring vessels to carry "Official Charts".  the
good part of that ruling is that electronic charts are now
included, IFF they are designated "Official Charts" by the
issuing goverment agency.


One US vector cartography company, Navionics, is leading a
push to get the IMO to change the langauge to say "Approved
Charts".  He might get that through and he might not, but
it will take a year or so to get a ruling.


In the meantime, while the US Coast Guard seems to have an
open mind and appears to like the notion of buying approved
cartography from multiple sources, NOAA insists that they
have the authority to annoint, er, "partner with" one
company as the "official voice for our data." Note that
this data is compiled by the NOAA Office of Coast Survey
and is an example of your tax dollars at work.


It should not be suprprising that the US delegation to the
IMO has made it very clear that it will not support the IMO
language change providing for "approved charts" instead of
"official charts".


So we have a distinct likelyhood that substantial
government assets to be directed toward enriching one
company in what will almost certainly result in the
destruction of what is currently a very competitive
market for vector-format electronic charts.


And I thought state industries went out of style with us
winning the Cold War.  Silly me.


        -mo