The Croatian Hydrographic Institute is responsible for the development of navigational safety service in the Adriatic, within the worldwide navigational safety system, and in cooperation with the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, port authorities, the Croatian Navy, lighthouse authorities, and hydrographic offices of all maritime countries, following internationally agreed standards.
Many early aids to navigation have been preserved,[2] such as nautical charts, portolans, and coastal descriptions with warnings to mariners, but they were not accurate until the advent of scientifically based hydrographic surveys.
To mark the 200th anniversary of that survey, the Croatian Hydrological Institute published a special edition entitled "Eastern Adriatic in the Work of Beautemps-Beaupré".
At that time, the Hydrological service was restructured to include nautical, hydrographic, geodetic, oceanographic, aero-photogrammetric, cartographic, meteorological, and reproduction departments.
In addition, it is responsible for the describing and plotting of a surveyed limit of maritime sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia, taking into account other regulations governing national border.
[12] These publications are based on the data collected by the institute, and other entities engaged in the safety of navigation, and produced according to the guidelines of the International Hydrographic Organization.
The library, which is available for browsing online, holds approximately 9000 books, textbooks and periodicals in a variety of subjects related to geodesy, geophysics, geology, chemistry, meteorology, cartography, navigation, electronics, information science, and printmaking.
An exhibition space contains a history of hydrography in the area, and provides a view of the institute's activities over time, including some of the methods and instruments used.