On the occasion of the 61st Genoa Boat Show, the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy (IIM) presented a new cartographic line for leisure boating. Given the attention the news has garnered among enthusiasts, shipowners, and sailors, the Marina Porto Antico team agreed on the necessity of outlining this mapping work of coasts and seabeds in more detail, as it is closely related to ‘our’ Ligurian Sea. 
During the event at the Genoa show, Massimiliano Nannini, Rear Admiral and Director of the prestigious Hydrographic Institute, spoke to disseminate what turned out to be a precise cartographic work, also the result of the IIM’s extensive experience.
Nannini explained that it is “an unprecedented cartographic line based on the creation of a new type of cartographic product intended for those users not subject to SOLAS regulations, namely leisure boating, which will complement the IIM’s cartographic production”.
As for the works, they began with a “first experiment conducted in Portofino, which will continue with the acquisition of further data related to the Marconi Gulf area”. And it is an industriousness, that of the Institute, handed down since the year of its foundation: the project indeed started “following in the footsteps of the pioneer of Italian Hydrography and founder and first Director of the Hydrographic Institute, Admiral Giovan Battista Magnaghi“.
Ancient History of the Hydrographic Institute
To understand how ancient this study and research production is, it is necessary to trace back even to the 19th century, 140 years ago, when the Hydrographic Institute was founded. In this regard, Rear Admiral Giannini specified that the work is repeated “Now as then, starting from the western Italian borders with France“.
The “Magnaghi” study is particularly focused on the Ligurian territorial waters up to those of the port of Ventimiglia. The sector press also explained that “The technologies are advanced and also carried out with the aid of drones“.
The vessels used for the drafting of the cartography are special hydrogeological-oceanographic ships capable of gathering the data necessary for compiling that indispensable material during navigation. And the new cartographic line of the IIM “Will be based on high-density hydrographic surveys conducted with the new technologies available to the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy (IIM)”.
The event also proved useful for providing important data on Italian boating. “Strategic sector,” Nannini emphasized: “Leisure boating is one of the sectors of absolute importance for Italy’s economy: in 2019, of the 33 million boats worldwide, over 577,000 are in Italy, not to mention the significant boost given by the 10 percent increase in berths over the last decade (2009-2019)”
