The supply of geospatial data, in both soft and hard copy format, to the
Air, Land and Naval elements of the Canadian Forces (CF) is the responsibility
of the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE). Within MCE, Geospatial Information
and Services Squadron (GI&S Sqn) is responsible for providing users with
these products. GI&S Sqn includes the Hydrographic Services Offices (HSOs)
in Halifax and Esquimalt, whose responsibility it is to provide nautical charts,
information, digital geospatial data sets and hydrographic support to the
CF, other Federal Government fleets (DFO, RCMP, etc) and allied Navies as
part of their mandate. Further hydrographic support is carried out at GI&S
Sqn in Ottawa through the creation and distribution of publications such as
'Notices to Mariners'.
Total inventory of hydrographic items include more than 7000 chart and product
titles and approximately 1.5 million items in-stock or on loan, worth more
than $25 million. Annual support activities include approximately 0.5 million
plotted chart corrections and over 20,000 reception and issue transactions.
In 1997, DND purchased an Inventory Control and Tracking System (ICTS) to
support the provision of geospatial data. To date the performance of this
custom built system was disappointing. Consequently, Compusult was called
in to provide a replacement using FasseTrack, which met many of the specialized
requirements. Through FasseTracks customizable interface, it easily met the
tracking and reporting requirements of the Hydrographic Services Offices.
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