Functions
The principal work undertaken by the IHO is:
- To bring about a close and permanent association between national hydrographic offices.
- To study matters relating to hydrography and allied sciences and techniques.
- To further the exchange of nautical charts and documents between hydrographic officers of member governments.
- To tender guidance and advice upon request, in particular to countries engaged in setting up or expanding their hydrographic service.
- To encourage coordination of hydrographic surveys with relevant oceanographic activities.
- To extend and facilitate the application of oceanographic knowledge for the benefit of navigators.
- To cooperate with international organizations and scientific institutions which have related objectives.
The IHO develops hydrographic and nautical charting standards to be agreed upon by its Member States. All Member States then follow those standards in their surveys, nautical charts, and publications. The almost universal use of the standards means that the products and services from the world's hydrographic and oceanographic offices are increasingly consistent and recognisable for all seafarers and for other users. Much has been done in the field of standardisation since the Bureau (now the IHO) was founded.
Read more about this topic: International Hydrographic Organization
Famous quotes containing the word functions:
“Empirical science is apt to cloud the sight, and, by the very knowledge of functions and processes, to bereave the student of the manly contemplation of the whole.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The English masses are lovable: they are kind, decent, tolerant, practical and not stupid. The tragedy is that there are too many of them, and that they are aimless, having outgrown the servile functions for which they were encouraged to multiply. One day these huge crowds will have to seize power because there will be nothing else for them to do, and yet they neither demand power nor are ready to make use of it; they will learn only to be bored in a new way.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)
“One of the most highly valued functions of used parents these days is to be the villains of their children’s lives, the people the child blames for any shortcomings or disappointments. But if your identity comes from your parents’ failings, then you remain forever a member of the child generation, stuck and unable to move on to an adulthood in which you identify yourself in terms of what you do, not what has been done to you.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)