Electronic sea charts of Malacca Strait

Strait of Malacca navigation enters the 21st Century as reported here:

Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have jointly drawn up electronic sea charts of the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait, the Japan Coast Guard said Monday.
Japan took part in the project to help prevent accident or piracy in the areas as most of tankers carrying oil to Japan pass through either of the straits, which serve as key international maritime traffic routes in Southeast Asia.

The charts can be displayed in scales up to one to 50,000. It is the first time that detailed electronic sea charts of international straits have been formulated, the Coast Guard said.

Ships with an electronic sea chart system, which is like a car navigation system, can see the charts with the location of the vessel itself displayed.

The charts incorporate the digitalized data of ordinary sea charts, setting off an alarm when the ship approaches shallow waters or other dangerous areas.