NOAA Stops Printing Nautical Charts

[AnchorageGuy]

We just posted this on our blog...The Trawler Beach House: NOAA Stops Printing Nautical Charts . Chuck

[rebel heart]

Well all you need is an ipad anyway.


lol

[Cormorant]

Sad the hear that NOAA is ceasing lithographic chart printing, but at least printed charts in general aren't going away just yet. The salient part of that excellent article was this:

"Two companies will continue to print “Print-on-Demand” charts under agreement with NOAA. (We are open to more companies participating in the POD program.) We continue to improve NOAA electronic navigational charts (for display on computers, mobile apps, and electronic chart display systems) and NOAA raster navigational charts (used in a variety of electronic charting systems). We are also testing a new product: during a trial period from Oct 22, 2013 to Jan 22, 2014, we are making about a thousand nautical charts available in printable PDF format for free download. We plan to issue a Federal Register Notice asking for comments on continuing free public access to PDFs after the trial period."

[smaarch]

correct me if I'm wrong: I seem to remember reading NOAA has been out of the printing business for some time now and licensed certain companies years ago to print charts, at the same time they made them digitally available to the public at large?

on another note: If you can figure out how to print them to scale in pdf format you can have a reprographics place print them. (even Staples and Kinko's should be able to handle this. i've got me a large format color printer... so i'm good to go ;!)

Edit: actually i think Open CPN can do this

[Stumble]

Smaarch,

I know a number of people with plotters (architectural printers) who have printed them off for me. Much easier and faster than dealing with the POD companies. The yacht club I AMA. Member of even considered buying a plotter for just this purpose, but we just don't have enough transient sailers to justify it.

[rebel heart]

I've had good luck with chartbooks (Yachtsman, etc) and Bellingham.

[Cormorant]

Originally Posted by smaarch

... I seem to remember reading NOAA has been out of the printing business for some time now ...

Here's another interesting bit from the NOAA FAQ. They had all their printing managed by the FAA:

Are federal budget constraints factors in the decision to end lithograph charts?
This change has minimal budget impact on NOAA. NOAA’s lithographic charts have been printed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA decided to stop printing nautical charts “as a direct result of the federal government’s constrained fiscal environment and the FAA’s need to reduce all avoidable or unnecessary costs to the agency.”

NOAA has neither the facilities, nor the budget, nor the appropriate authority, nor the expertise to stand up or contract for a print-stock-sell operation.

[BigBoater917]

I like the Oceangraphix POD charts, I just wish they used a thicker, more durable paper.

[MarkJ]

People should realise that Paper Charts are obsolete. When Noaa stops printing them and the British Hydrographic office then why don't internet sailor believe it?

[europaflyer]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

People should realise that Paper Charts are obsolete. When Noaa stops printing them and the British Hydrographic office then why don't internet sailor believe it?

I don't believe the UKHO has any intention of stopping printing paper charts, and it is the biggest provider of charts and hydrographic services in the world. There is, thankfully, NO end in sight for paper charts.

[Cotemar]

The problem with printed charts are.
1) They are obsolete the second you print them.
2) They do not have the ability to zoom into detail.
3) They take up a lot of room
4) When the government shuts down they stop printing them.
5) They do not tell you exactly where you are
6) They do not give you up to date marina and fuel info

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

The problem with printed charts are.
1) They are obsolete the second you print them.
2) They do not have the ability to zoom into detail.
3) They take up a lot of room
4) When the government shuts down they stop printing them.
5) They do not tell you exactly where you are
6) They do not give you up to date marina and fuel info

They don't run out of electricity
They are not vulnerable to lightning strikes
They provide a better overview
You can make notations on them
Two or more people can look at them at the same time
They are a lot more decorative than an iPad when hanging on the wall

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

The problem with printed charts are.
1) They are obsolete the second you print them.
2) They do not have the ability to zoom into detail.
3) They take up a lot of room
4) When the government shuts down they stop printing them.
5) They do not tell you exactly where you are
6) They do not give you up to date marina and fuel info

OK, I agree, they won't hold your hand and do all the thinking for you. But there are still many sailors out there, including us, that would prefer to make our own decisions and use our skills, learned over decades on the water, to navigate our boats safely from one place to another. We use electronics, paper charts and guides because we never rely on a single source for information when it come to the safety of our vessel and crew. Printing never stopped when the dovernment shut down. Updates are provided weekly through the local notice to mariners. When was the last time the charts on your plotter were updated? Everything has its weak points and strong points. Each skipper has to decide for himself what tools to use. I won't counter with a list of what's wrong with electronics, since it would serve no purpose. Chuck

[S/V Alchemy]

I refer to paper charts (which in Canada I must continue to carry for wherever the boat is, and they aren't free, either) to plan and to get an overview of the trip. I don't ever want my first notice of a shoal with a depth six inches less than my keel to be on a plotter...I want to already have an awareness that it may be in my path should I deviate overmuch from my desired heading.

That said, I do make use of chartbooks and fine pencil marks to plot my progress. It's also a record of my various trips more tangible than "save route" on a device that stays on the boat.

[europaflyer]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

The problem with printed charts are.
1) They are obsolete the second you print them.
2) They do not have the ability to zoom into detail.
3) They take up a lot of room
4) When the government shuts down they stop printing them.
5) They do not tell you exactly where you are
6) They do not give you up to date marina and fuel info

1. 90% of the most important features on charts are totally static, or nearly so. Digital charts will probably be based on the same decades/centuries old data that paper charts are. As for bouyage, it's not exactly beyond the wit of man to make the odd correction, is it? Not as if they move them every weekend.
Here's the same chart, from 1974 and bang up to date digital.
Chart 18465 - 1974
Chart 18465 - 2013
OK, some more TSS in the 40 year newer one, and a few of the lights have changed a bit. The more important ones haven't. Everything else is the same. A few minutes with an updated list of lights, copy the boundaries of the new TSS on to the chart and you're golden. Let's face it, half a lifetime has passed since the chart was published so 10 minutes of work during that time to update it isn't too much really.
I hate to use the old 'rocks don't move' argument but... they sort of don't.
2. No-one, and I mean no-one, owns a screen with size and resolution as good as you get with a paper chart. OK, you can't zoom in. Considering the speed our boats move at, changing charts from large scale arrival/departure to the enroute chart isn't exactly going to kill you.
3. So do computer screens, batteries to power them and solar panels to charge them. The number of charts you can get in to a couple of draws under a chart table is actually quite impressive.
4. That's a US problem. The same thing is true of updates for digital charts. At least you can still buy paper charts from a chandlery during one of your government shutdowns, whereas there's a risk the website you download digital charts from will shut down.
5. Mine do. This is because I know how to navigate. They continue to show me where I am after a power failure, GPS breakage, etc, etc...
6. Neither do a lot of the digital charts I've seen. It's a chart, not an almanac.