Copywriting - UKHO

After 200 years as chartmaker to the world, the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office – the cartographic arm of The Admiralty - faces strong competition as everything begins to go digital.

In everything from speeches to brochures to powerpoints, we've been helping them secure a position as 'The Future of Navigation'.

Welcome to the Future of Navigation. Welcome, in fact, to Hong Kong harbour in the Future of Navigation.

This is what the future – what e-Navigator - will look like.

It won't behave exactly like this. No touch screen ECDIS just yet.

But it will look like this. It will look...just how you need it to look.

[Zooming in and out]

You want to look closer? Look closer.

You want to get the wider view? e-Navigator makes it easy...

[Menu]

But of course you don't want just to look; you need to be able to do.

So...[double-tap menu] what is it you want to do? Go into port? Then you'll need...

... port information. [drags across Port Info layer]

Plans; text; port. Choose what you need; e-Navigator will give it to you.

And when you've got what you needed...[clicks to close]...just put it away.

You'll need tide information. [drags across Tide layer]

Compass information. It's here if you need it. And what about waves?

In every section, e-Navigator has been designed so that the information the mariner might need is there at his fingertips. All he has to do is select, use, then put it away.

You needed wave information? Was that because of stormy weather? [drags across Weather layer]. Again, all the information you could need – there on one screen.

Same applies to currents [drags across Currents layer – zooms in and out to different scales]...quickly and easily go to the scale you need; get the information you need to inform the decisions you have to make.

You'll appreciate this one. [drags across AIO layer] Admiralty Information Overlay. It gives you all the additional Admiralty information necessary to match Admiralty paper chart standards on your ECDIS screen.

It gives you more, too. When something happens, the system alerts you. [Info panel pops up; Mike drags and expands] Very quickly, the mariner can get the full picture on a potential issue. Then decide whether or not it's relevant.

But e-Navigator isn't just about helping the crew make the right decisions in real time. It's also about helping plan ahead.

e-Navigator incorporates a layer called Passage Plan, [drags/clicks to open Passage Plan layer] which takes into account all the real time information on things like wind, wave, tides and swell, and works out the most efficient way to get from berth to berth. Mariners have always tried to go with the flow rather than fight the current: e-Navigator uses the power of modern computing to calculate all those variables – and their interaction – more accurately than even the most experienced Captain could ever do.

All the Captain has to do is – click on 'optimise'. [Mike does] The computer takes everything into account and comes up with the best possible route.

And that can mean significant cuts in journey times, or reductions of as much as 5% in fuel consumption.

Good for the crew; good for the business; and good for the environment.

Too good to be true? Let's see. Let's see how it looks out on the ocean....

[segue into CGI]