Republished from Risks Digest 27.15

Risks Digest 27.15

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From: RISKS List Owner
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:49:23 PST

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RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest  Tuesday 29 January 2013  Volume 27 : Issue 15

ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
Peter G. Neumann, moderator, chmn ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

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Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:21:44 -0800
From: Paul Saffo 
Subject: Digital Map Error May Have Led To Minesweeper Grounding

This is a good one given the fact that the skipper of the minesweeper was
warned over the radio by the park rangers that they were on a collision
course and the skipper told them to "contact the US embassy.  Rather like
the old story of the battleship skipper ordering the lighthouse to move!  -p

Christopher P. Cavas, Digital Map Error May Have Led To Minesweeper Grounding
blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2013/01/digital-map-error-may-have-led-to-mineweeper-grounding/

A digital chart used by the minesweeper USS Guardian to navigate Philippine
waters misplaced the location of a reef by about eight nautical miles, and
may have been a significant factor when the ship drove hard aground on the
reef on 17 Jan 2013.

As of 18 Jan, U.S. Navy ships have been directed to ``operate with caution''
when using similar electronic charts and compare the map data with paper
charts, which are considered accurate.

The Guardian drove onto Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea around 2:25 a.m. on
17 Jan (some sources cite a date of 16 Jan, since that was the date in
Washington, D.C. when the incident occurred). The reef is about 80 miles
east-southeast of Palawan Island.