For the inland waters of Europe there are some special regulations in force. Vessels over 20m in length should have an Inland AIS and an inland ECDIS. (Since jan 2017 compulsory in Germany, rest of europe to follow). OpenCPN from version 4.6 and higher has a special mode to comply with the rules for inland ECDIS version 2.3 in information mode.

Under 'Options' > 'User Interface' there is a checkbox 'Use settings for Inland ECDIS'. When checked OpenCPN will:

• Startup in 'Dusk' mode. (To prevent blinding if startup at night)
• Startup with the 'Standard' layers visible.
• Hide several toolbar buttons that are of no use for inland waters and charts. Toolbar can still be changed, but changes are not saved. At startup the same minimum toolbar will be shown.
• An extra toolbar with buttons for switching layers and pre defined zoom levels will popup.
• AIS targets that have no compass connected for heading information will be shown as octogram.
• The blue-paddle for starboard to starboard meetings has now the compulsory form. (a blue square with white border) If the blue-paddle information is available but the paddle is not set only a white line is drawn.

Remember that you only comply with regulations if OpenCPN is in inlandECDIS mode, using the most recent inland ENC charts, no other programs are running on the computer and the computer screen is readable from the cunning position.