Free Downloadable Nautical Charts

[tarian]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

As far as I know, data for all charts are collected by government employees.

Paid for by taxpayers.

Why should we have to pay twice for this data, once to have it collected and again when we want to use what we already paid for.

Double taxation?

One would guess that to employee these people and ships for survey work (I know a lot was done before but they are always updating) and the time and energy and the technical equipment needed one would expect that a small fee should be allocated to them , not all citizens of countries sail so why should other peoples taxers pay for your leisure time , and if you then want
to pay navionic 200 plus for charts that are sometimes free , and if your source then right i.e via open CPN and O charts you will see a massive reduction in price compared to the Big boys that a certain amount of people on here buy and then moan about it , in other words if you do not do the leg work suffer the consequences.

In regards to fuel tax in the UK imagine a first world county with a pension scheme and benefits for all and a free National health service taxing people shame on the Government I say bring back the republic .


Free US maps. inland waterways of Europe, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand including some South Pacific Islands are just some of the FREE stuff out there
Antares Charts for Scotland at a very small price as well

[CF32907]

Originally Posted by MountainKing

If they're using the money from selling the charts to fund the department, then you're only paying for it once. Instead of the employee's income coming from the general tax fund and everyone in the country paying for something that the vast majority of them will never use. It's actually a fairer way of paying for having the work done, having the people who will actually be using them pay for them instead of shifting the burden to all taxpayers.

Personally, I'd prefer getting the charts for free, but I also enjoy playing devil's advocate.

Talk about paying if you use the system, I totally agree. I'm 73 retired and I still have 30% of my taxes being payed to the school system. Why should I still be paying for this, that is truly taxation without representation. Now as far as charts and such. Our government goes through these motions for the military, so the public can get these for virtually no cost to them, we paid dearly for the government paper charts, but electronic charts don't cost them a dime more, nor does it cost the tax payer that don't need charts. Capt. Vince Rakstis, Ret.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

As far as I know, data for all charts are collected by government employees.



Paid for by taxpayers.



Why should we have to pay twice for this data, once to have it collected and again when we want to use what we already paid for.



Double taxation?

In the US the data is collected by the Gov’t and the digital charts are free to download.
In the UK a private company does the work and charts are not free.
Varies country to country.

[George DuBose]

Sorry, I think you guys are dreaming that private agencies survey the ocean bottom. As far as I know, all countries that make oceanic surveys either use an arm of their military or a specific agency.

I am sure that these entities are not supported by chart sales.

Also, many charts are based on surveys decades old.

The US makes chart data available for free, I have heard that Germany does also, but one has to "configure" the data into a usable chart on one's own. I have also heard that The Netherlands makes their coastal charts available for free, just not their canals and rivers.

I am no cheapskate, but how to Navionics, Garmin and others get off charging us very high prices for data that the collection thereof is paid for by taxpayers...not just the taxpaying sailors...

[Splashman237]

I’m hoping that all the wind farm operators that now litter the coast of the UK are paying for NAV data updates to be made. Unlikely , and they certainly aren’t paying me to update/replace my charts that are now out of date because of them ...

[Mr B]

All my paper charts before they turned into a sodden mush,
They came with my boat, Thousands of dollars worth,
The latest update on any of them was about 1970,
A lot were WW2 maps from navel vessels during the war,
Most were done by Captain Cook,

How can companys charge hundreds of dollars for a chart or map they didnt survey themselves,
All they have done is copy existing maps and put it on a USB,

The Taxpayer has paid for all these maps via Govt agencies,
Mostly by the military so their ships dont get stuck or run aground, ,
Taxpayers pay for the military, Whether they like it or not,
Hydrographing the ocean floor for whatever reason also comes out of the Taxpayers pocket in some form or another,

[Captjohn4]

Remember that any works that are paid to produce are not subject to copy write protection, also no government materials can be copyrighted.

[peter57]

Originally Posted by Santiano

You've got me there. I just caught a whiff of the auld "I worked hard to pay for my double platinum navionics package, and so should you," accompanied by some shaking of withered fists.

I would not have wasted my money if your game enough to rely on Navionics that is up to you but we could be reading about you latter if you don't have a good back up source or rack other Navionic users for its unreliabilities in places.

[cblurton]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Now, going back to the more interesting, off-topic theme...

With all the problems in copyright/patent law, I think by far the worst is the way patents are handed out like candy for the most minor of tweaks.

Case in point, Apple (or somebody) patented having rounded corners on a cell phone. It really is that bad. All the big cell phone manufacturers hold thousands of these petty patents. Swapping licenses to allow each other to make a workable device is a huge undertaking. And a huge barrier to any new competitor trying to enter that market.

People, Power and Profits is an excellent book to learn how corporations make use of governmental regulations to control markets to their stockholder's benefit. I received it as a Christmas present and I've sent copies to some of my friends. I am not the author, nor a publicist for the publisher. I am just a guy who thinks this book has a lot of useful information to help us understand our economic world.

https://www.amazon.com/People-Power-...215/ref=sr_1_1

[HankOnthewater]

Originally Posted by UFO

I Know NOAA and a few Australian States have made available for free download their nautical charts - EG Western Australia has a download page for all their charts and you are free to download, print and even print and sell them, as long as you do not make any changes to the chart.

For free West Australia charts check this link:
https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imar...cal-charts.asp
PDF files for download, approx 3 Mb each.
Note, these are NOT the charts by the Australian Hydrographic Office.

The latter can be viewed here, both paper charts and ENC (Electronic Navigation charts), neither are free.
http://www.hydro.gov.au/prodserv/digital/digital.htm

[Buzzman]

If you're contemplating cruising the WA coast, you simply MUST download the Pilot by the Fremantle Sailing Club. PDF or ePub, free to download, and very useful. Updated regularly and by locals with up to date info.

https://www.fsc.com.au/wa-cruising-guide-5th-edition/

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

If you're contemplating cruising the WA coast, you simply MUST download the Pilot by the Fremantle Sailing Club. PDF or ePub, free to download, and very useful. Updated regularly and by locals with up to date info.

https://www.fsc.com.au/wa-cruising-guide-5th-edition/

WA would be Western Australia as opposed to Washington state in the USA.

[Buzzman]

I was respondoing to Hanks post imediately above which referenced 'West Australia' charts.

And, of course, WA can only mean one thing to an Aussie....

...and it ain't nothing to do with some long dead American general...

[tongue very firmly in cheek]

[Albinvega27]

Nothing for free is simply not true.

I navigate since years with worldwide charts I have found in petty Internet search. Some of them I have given away underway and people always find, they are accurate and reliable. Each one has a date and it is my choice to trust the date. I have learned my way ad know, most of the people simply want to pay whatever they sail, while I learned the way to official sites of each country, to search in between official Marine forces websites and Geographical institutes can be very rewarded. I found tons of charts, inland and offshore worldwide.

Good luck while searching. It is worthwhile and your pocket will notice...

[abacaxi]

Originally Posted by UFO

Is there a website out there that lists these free charts?

This one here has the most comprehensive list I've seen:
Nautical Free - Carte marines gratuites & ouvrages nautiques en ligne : Version sur une page

... but even with this list, it's not so easy to find stuff so I've actually been working on making all downloadable nautical charts available through an easy to use, map-based interface: https://www.thenavtable.com

I only have NOAA and NGA ones so far though. If you try it out, I would love your feedback!

EDIT: Oh wow, I'm one year too late! Hopefully it's still useful to someone.