Training Experiences with GPS in the Merchant Marine

Samuel G. Shaw and John M. Keever

Abstract:	The merchant marine of the United States, like that of most other nations, is comprised of a wide collection of commercial vessels with only loose links between the various sectors. The existence of a full constellation of GPS satellites, however, has produced a growing acceptance of GPS by the maritime end-user community as a navigational standard. This process has been accelerated by a desire on the part of government and ship operators alike to reduce the likelihood of groundings resulting from navigational errors. The acceptance of this standard, however, has led to an unexpected consequence in that mariners may be too willing to over-rely on the GPS generated information that has become available. In this paper the authors report observations concerning the training of maritime cadets in the use of GPS equipment. Furthermore, personal experience with the use of GPS in actual navigation situations is described. Through this experience the authors have been able to detect a wide range of simple equipment-user mistakes. These mistakes, though easily prevented are not easily detected unless some thought has been given ahead of time to constructing the piloting routine so as to automatically alert the navigator to a problem. It is shown that a small adjustment in the way that a marine GPS receiver is typically used will provide an automatic cross check with radar navigation techniques that are popular in the merchant marine.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1994 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 24 - 26, 1994 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	457 - 464
Cite this article:	Updated citation: Published in NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation
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