CARIS today announced the worldwide availability of S-57 Composer, the next-generation desktop software application for electronic chart production.

S-57 Composer represents the future in desktop production of S-57 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC), Additional Military Layers (AML) and Inland ENC. The successor to the long-trusted CARIS HOM ENC and HOM AML products, S-57 Composer delivers a highly intuitive workflow for creation of any official or customized product.

"We are extremely proud and excited to provide the latest and most innovative CARIS technology to our desktop customers," explains Hugh Astle, CARIS Senior Development Manager. "The world's largest hydrographic offices have made the transition to CARIS Hydrographic Production Database (HPD) as the premier solution for database-driven hydrographic production. With the release of S-57 Composer, our desktop users will now have access to the same robust object creation and editing tools that exist in HPD."

S-57 Composer is the best-engineered, most modern application on the market for desktop electronic chart production. Moreover, users can depend upon the evolution of this application as the IHO moves towards the release of the S-100 standard.

Through a product creation wizard, users can define parameters, import and manipulate source data, perform QC checks and then export an Exchange Set. The application will be shipped with support for creating ENC 3.1 & 3.1.1, AML 1.0 & 2.1, IENC 2.0 and U.S. IENC 4.0. Generation of Marine Information Overlays (MIO) and specialty products such as Bathymetric ENCs will also be possible.

"Out of the box, customers want a powerful chart production environment, with all editing and quality control functionality in a single application," explained Andy Hoggarth, Marketing and Sales Manager. "We have developed a very competitive pricing structure to allow electronic chart products to make the transition to S-57 Composer as easy as possible."

Existing HOM ENC and AML users with up-to-date maintenance will receive S-57 Composer free of charge. For new users which have not yet made the transition to the CARIS Ping-to-Chart workflow there is a six-month introductory offer of S-57 Composer for the cost equivalent to only one year of maintenance.