The transitioning period for installation of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) on board of all types of vessels which was established by IMO group assembly has elapsed in July 2018. This means that paper maps and charts have almost disappeared from ship for good while the process of acquiring ECDIS certificates is still on. Nowadays ECDIS Courses have become an inalienable part of marine education. There are two mandatory levels (training).

The proper ECDIS Generic Course should meet the requirements of IMO Model Course 1.27 and Regulation II/1 of the STCW Convention. The aim of the training is to teach students to operate ECDIS system safely and efficiently in conjunction with other navigational equipment and under various conditions. After the course they should be able to cope with number of emergencies including loss of GPS signal. Obviously, part of the training is conducted on the simulator to provide students with a sufficient practice. Many providers of ECDIS Courses use Transas ECDIS Navi Sailor 3000 or 4000 simulator model.

The next level presupposes mastering particular ECDIS equipment. The ECDIS Type Specific Training has a number of varieties depending on simulator manufacturer. Most popular choices are: Furuno, JRC, Sperry, Vision master FT, Chart World, WARTSILA, Raytheon, etc. This is an advanced course, so initial knowledge of ECDIS operation is not included in the program; trainees would be just familiarized with equipment features and taught to navigate safely with its help. One useful tip about ECDIS Type Specific Training, it is now available as CBT (Computer Based Training) in some centers, so there is no need to travel in order to obtain the certificate anymore.