Automating Paper Chart Production: Insights from Shom Webinar Recording and Q&A

ShreeRajagopalan · ‎09-09-2025

Our recent webinar "Automating Paper Chart Production: Insights from Shom" explored the automation capabilities of the Custom Chart Builder (CCB) tool in ArcGIS Maritime. CCB is a web-based application that enables you to generate hard-copy navigational chart products in real time directly from the most up-to-date electronic navigational chart (ENC) data.

Joining Esri were representatives from Shom, the French hydrographic office, who shared their experience with CCB. They discussed the reasons behind their adoption of the tool, the setup and configuration process, and how they use CCB to streamline paper chart production.

Watch the recording.

Thank you to our attendees for making this webinar a success!

In this blog, we'll dive into the questions received during the live webinar and provide responses.

Answers were contributed by:

Patricia Sheatsley, Esri
Craig Greene, Esri
Hugo Chonavel, Shom

Question 1: Can I enter the coordinates to print the chart?

There are two options for creating chart extents:

Select a pre-defined area of interest
Insert a custom area of interest. Based on the size sheet of paper and the scale, an area feature representing the extent will be inserted in the web map.

Currently, there is no method for entering coordinates. Using scale and page size as inputs means that you cannot choose custom coordinates.

Question 2: If I have to print an updated letter, is the exported file modifiable with just that change?

Yes. You can export updated charts as soon as there are updates to the ENC, and the updates from the ENC will be reflected in the chart.

Question 3: In the placement of text labels, which is one of the biggest cartographic inputs, traditionally, is there an option for manual adjustment of the labels on the paper chart output (and retain the manually adjusted position of the text label for future charts) or does the source data for the chart need to be updated to drive the text label position, through the automation algorithms?

You can control text placement by configuring default offset in x and y from and also placement preferences. Additionally, text will automatically deconflict based on priority.

Question 4: Does Custom Chart Builder have chart properties for the global ocean? Or any specific area?

ArcGIS Online and The Esri Living Atlas have hundreds of bathymetric datasets that you can freely leverage in your maps and charts. You can also create and publish your own local bathymetric data and add that to the output.

Question 5: How does Shom’s customization of the Custom Chart Builder (e.g., LUA configuration and adaptation to S-4 standards) improve the accuracy and usability of automated paper charts compared to the standard S-52 portrayal?

Shom’s customization of the Custom Chart Builder improves the usability of automated paper charts compared to the standard S-52 portrayal for several reasons:

The graphics are based on the S-4 rules and are therefore better suited to paper visualization than the standard S-52 portrayal. The modification of symbols and colors also provides a more user-friendly presentation for mariners.
The customization allows for a wider variety of symbols, enabling a more detailed depiction of features than a “simple” screenshot from an ECDIS.
Significant work has been done on text management to display information useful to mariners without overloading the chart. Particular attention has been paid to text placement so that labels are positioned close to their associated features.

Question 6: Given Shom’s strategic vision for full automation by 2025, what role do additional tools (like GetNotasCCB, MontageShomCCB, and CorrCCB) play in overcoming limitations of the base ESRI CCB, especially in chart updates and mariner usability?

GetNotasCCB and MontageShomCCB make it possible to supplement the paper chart representation generated by the CCB with additional elements that are present in Shom’s current paper charts and are necessary for mariners:

GetNotasCCB recreates the Notas from the ENC information.
MontageShomCCB enables the display of complementary information such as the tide levels table, tidal streams table, situation diagram, edition number, correction number, and other contextual chart information.

With the CCB, it is easy to create a new edition when the ENC is updated, but there is no built-in way to identify the resulting changes on the corresponding paper chart. CorrCCB addresses this by comparing two versions of CCB paper charts and then automatically creates the blocks or tracings that show the chart updates.

Question 7: Does CCB work on desktop versions?

Custom Chart Builder is a web application. However, the ENC web services can be added to ArcGIS Pro. You can also create INT1 paper charts in ArcGIS Pro by importing ENCs into a geodatabase and running the Chart Automation Tool on the database.

Question 8: What is the QR code for on the chart?

The QR code is a link to the notice to mariners.

Question 9: Can you share how CCB is licensed?

You'll need ArcGIS Server and the ArcGIS Maritime extension to ArcGIS Server with Standard or Advanced. You'll also need ArcGIS Pro Standard for managing the templates that are used. For example, if you want to customize the template, you need to open the template in Pro and make your customizations.

Question 10: We still struggle with automation of the rendering of paper charts for different scales. Consistent generalization of coastlines / depth lines / etc. is a problem. How did you solve it for on-demand map creation via CCB?

Custom Chart Builder does not automatically generalize data. If there are edge-matching issues in your electronic chart data, that will be present in the output paper chart.

Question 11: How is the progress in S10x ENC / data integration in Esri’s ecosystem?

Esri currently supports visualizing, importing, and creating S-100 products. More support is being added in every release.

Question 12: Can I add data which are not from the CCB Server?

Yes. There are a variety of ways you can add data to Custom Chart Builder.

You can add data and services from ArcGIS Online or the Living Atlas.
You can create and add your own web map services (from your own survey or topographic data, for example).
You can add data from your desktop.
You can add data to the default Pro templates so that it is present in the chart when it is generated.

Question 13: How do I set up ArcGIS Maritime Server extension?

Please refer to this documentation page for details.

Question 14: I would like to know how FME is use in the automated chart production process.

FME is the main tool that we used to develop the additional tools. It is the software that was used to develop GetNotasCCB, MontageShomCCB, CorrCCB, and RepromatsCCB.

Question 15: Is any possibility to view the statistics from the downloads of the charts in CCB?

ArcGIS Enterprise records various usage statistics for items, users, and groups and reports this information in the ArcGIS Portal website through the Activity Dashboard for ArcGIS app. There you can view usage reports for monitoring your organization.

Question 16: Are the CCB charts treated as the official replacement of the regular paper charts in France?

Yes, they will be used to replace the actual paper chart and this is part of a wider project where we want to recreate our cartographic databases. When the area corresponding is recreated in our databases, the paper chart will be moved from a traditional paper chart to automated paper chart with the CCB. This starts with the southwest of France.

Question 17: Does CCB charts have an overlap between the sheets (cells)?

The application chooses the appropriate data based on the scale of the chart that was requested. For example, if you request a 1:20k chart, the application will try to fill the chart extent with Harbour usage band. If there is not enough data from the Harbour usage band to fill the chart extent, the application will choose the next best available scale to fill the gaps.

There can be overlap in the same usage band when you have data from two different countries, at which point SCAMIN will determine which data takes priority.

Question 18: Is a possibility to overlay bathymetry in S102 v3 in the background?

Yes. S-102 is supported in ArcGIS and you can publish Image Services or Elevation Services from S-102, which can then be added to the web map.

Question 19: Can you manage the order of additional layers in CCB?

Yes, you can move layers up or down, control the transparency, and turn sub-layers on or off (like the Land Area content in an ENC, for example).

Question 20: Is it possible to use multiple ENCs from different producing nations when using CBB to produce a single paper chart?

Yes. If there is overlap in the same usage band (Harbour, Approach, Coastal, e.g.) SCAMIN will determine which chart data is displayed in the printed chart.

Question 21: Is it possible to display subpanels on the main chart just like the traditional paper chart?

Yes. However, you will need to create a specific template for each unique layout. And, although you only have to create each unique template once, the more unique layouts you have, the more chart templates you will need to manage.

Question 22: Can you support sheets of plans or multi-panel charts or charts with non-rectangular areas of interest?

Yes, it can support sheets of plans. In that case, you're striking a balance between full automation and having a single set of templates. If you just have rectangular charts that are a single plan, then you only need to have one template and it can be reused for all the charts. If you have want to have charts that have sheets of plans, then you'd have to have a custom template or build a specific template for that chart. So, the answer is that it's possible. However, you get the most out of the automation if you go with just a simple grid of portrait and landscape products.

Question 23: Has there been any consideration for creating historic types of charts for example mapping historic sunken ships?

This is not planned for currently.