S-52/AML Overview

The S-52 specification (IHO ECDIS Presentation Library, Edition 3.4, January 2008, Special Publication No. 52) defines how to visuliase S-57 ENCs. The standard is complex and specifies numerous dynamic rules.

MapLink Pro supports the visulisation of S-57 ENC using the S-52 rules and the visulisation of S-57 AML using rules specific for AML. The rendering rules for ENC and AML are different and we have been advised that the AML rules should be used for AML and the ENC rules should be used for ENC. There are some overlap between the two as ENC features are present in AML S-57 data, however the intended purpose for each product is different.

Examples of the displaying ENC data using the S-52 Dynamic Renderer are shown below.

There are two ways for an application to take advantage of this;

Use MapLink Pro Studio to produce a MapLink Pro map.
Use the S-63 SDK to create an application which ingests S-57 and/or S-63 (encrypted S-57). Please refer to the sample and the “S-63/S-52 Developers Guide” for additional information.

S-52 Map

A map generated from MapLink Pro Studio can be correctly viewed using the Map Viewer.

To correctly view the Map in your application you will need to integrate the S-52 Dynamic Renderer.

You must generate the Map with RGB option unticked as the S-52 specification requires the ability to dynamically change the colours used. The following screenshot shows the option that must be unticked.

AML Map

A map generated from MapLink Pro Studio can be correctly viewed using the Map Viewer.

To correctly view the Map in your application you will need to integrate the AML Dynamic Renderer.

You must generate the Map with RGB option unticked as the S-52 specification requires the ability to dynamically change the colours used.

S-63/S-52/AML Combination

The S-63 SDK has been designed to handle the S-57 and S-63 workflow management of ENC.

Feature Masking

Feature masking is valid for S-57 prepared for S-52. Note that if you have data which has multiple scale bands you should use the appropriate data for your layer.

Some of the features are created specifically for S-52 rules.

We would therefore advise that you only use feature masking if you really need too.

Feature Sub-Classing

Feature sub-classing does not make sense for S-57 prepared for rendering using the S-52 Dynamic Renderer.

Feature Book & Studio Template

When you load S-57 data into MapLink Pro Studio you would normally setup your rendering. With S-52 you do not need to do this.

However if you wish to view the data statically you can load the S-52/AML rendition file into the feature book section after you have loaded all your data. Please note that this will still not look correct, you have to generate a map and display the map in the MapViewer.

The S-52/AML rendition file can be found under the MapLink Pro installation directory in the S-52 configuration directory here:

config/s52/s52.rnd
config/s52/AML.rnd
config/s52/AMLv2.rnd
config/s52/AMLv3.rnd

An S-52 feature book and a MapLink Pro Studio template project are supplied. They can be found in the config directory in:

projects/s52
config/templates

Limitations

You should not have AML and ENC data in the same map as both require different rendering rules and therefore different Dynamic Renderers. Please contact support if you really do need to do this.
The S-52/AML Dynamic Renderer does not support Mariner’s Objects. These should/must be implemented at the application level.
S-52/AML maps which are tiled may have multiple area symbology and text. The S-63 SDK manages the data at an ENC cell level and as such does not have this limitation.
A fully compliant ECDIS solution is dependent upon the application providing features such as Mariers Objects, ENC data management etc…

Figure 1 S-52 Paper Chart Rendering

Figure 2 S-52 Paper Chart Rendering - Detail display.

Figure 3 S-52 Paper Chart – Dusk