Standards

Have you ever noticed that different versions of certain products tend to look similar? You may think that everyone is being lazy and just copying each other. Sometimes that is true. Other times people are painstakingly cordinating to make sure that similar products look similar. This is particularly true for electronic navigational charts. It is important for mariners (and manufacturers) that a hydrographic office's products work on a number of different platforms. Also, it is essential that navigational objects have a common attribution and graphic representation. If something is ambiguous or, even worse, incorrect then serious consequences could ensue, with potential loss of property, life, and/or damage to the marine environment.

Standards - dull as dishwater - but vitally important.

Here is a link to a snippet of the S57 standard:
http://www.iho.shom.fr/ECDIS/s57intro.htm