Say Goodbye to Paper Charts!

P

Pat Anderson

New member
Received this on the Great Loop list today:

m Healy <gilwellbear@gmail.com>
7:41 AM (1 hour ago)

to great-loop
Received the following today from NOAA:

"Please distribute this notice concerning the future production of NOAA paper chart products as widely as possible.

"Major changes are coming for mariners who purchase paper nautical charts of U.S. coasts and the Great Lakes.

"Effective April 1, 2014, the federal government will no longer print the traditional lithographic (paper) nautical charts.

"NOAA continues to provide the nation’s nautical harts in a variety of forms — including full-size nautical chart PDF (Portable Document Format) files on a trial basis. And we continue to support the entrepreneurs who use NOAA nautical charts in their development of new navigation products and services."

Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary
Currently at River Dunes Resort Marina, Oriental, NC
http://gilwellbear.wordpress.com
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436
 
Interesting. Although as I read it it's not exactly "good-bye" to paper charts, but rather (at least they are experimenting with) providing a .pdf file which a person could then (theoretically) have printed by anyone (independent publisher, etc.) (such as how the Colregs are published by Paradise Cay).

So NOAA is focusing on providing the data.

I love paper charts, but I can see that move.

Thanks for posting it here - I had not heard or read of it.
 
I love paper charts, but I can see that move.
Click to expand...

Ditto. And I agree. Funny thing is our Sheriff's Office has been "going paperless" for at least 10 years....yet we still use reams and reams daily.... :lol:
 
We still use chart books. You can update them thru local notice to Mariners, and off the NOAA web site where the charts are available for down load. We keep all of the current NOAA charts for the areas we use on the I pad--in several formats.
 
We use Coastal Explorer which provides coastal charts for the whole USA in both raster and Vector formats. I also have downloaded C-Map charts for additional areas in Canada etc. they cost mo money. You can switch between Raster and Vector or C-Charts by keying an r or v or CM for C-Charts our laptop. Great tool for planning as you can save routes as regular windows documents. Active Captain is part of the program. We use a GPS with a USB connector connected to a puck on Velcro right behind the port front window. You do not need the internet to use your pc as a plotter. Chart updates are free but do require an internet connection as does live weather for the area. I used to buy paper charts but don't use them much. www.landfallnavigation.com will print NOAA charts for a cost on regular or waterproof paper.
D.D.
 
I said "good bye" to paper charts a long time ago. I have multiple redundant battery powered GPS systems on board and copies of all relevant charts as pdf's on more than one device on board. Paper charts are nice for looking at stuff on a larger scale (sometimes) but I haven't needed them for years.
 
We still find route planning to be best done on paper charts. Often as you zoom out the scale on an electric chart (as apparently happened to the boat which was lost on the end of North Coronado Island a couple of years ago--where a waypoint was put in, and the Coronado Islands didn't show on the electronic chart at that scale.

My own experience was that I saw two routes to go on the ICW--what was not shown was an 18 foot bridge clearance, vs a 65 foot bridge clearance. As It turned out we were able to get our trawler under the 18 foot bridge because the tide was out--if not we would have had to back track about 8 miles.....Lesson learned.
 
I have all the paper charts I need for the PNW. San Juans, Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast, Desolation, Broughtons. I still like plotting on my paper charts, looking at the big picture, as well as my electronic chart for zoom in, zoom out.
Over the years, sure they may get out of date, buoys can be moved or added, but rocks don't move. They all sit in my built in chart rack and don't take up much room.
I have not trailed the boat outside the PNW, so that question has not arisen yet.

Martin.
 
When I am in the planning mode I'm zoomed in enough to be able to read depths. Anyone just putting waypoints not knowing that there are islands there needs to be riding the bus.
D.D.
 
Actually these folks were "experienced sailors"--who knows what happened--maybe a minor mistake--but it was fatal for 5 people. The reality is that people need to be very careful--and look at all of the points along the way. Most folks don't. The one incident is not the only one--case in point is the Navy Mine sweeper, where not all resources were checked. I can cite a number of other cases.
 
I've noticed the same thing when reading about incidents. The issue of different detail level at different zoom levels seems to catch folks of high intelligence as often as not. Not saying where I fall on that scale :lol: but I also noticed it as a "catch point" when I first started using Nobeltec (the first digital charting I used). It just seems like one of those things that - event though it is "known" - can still "get" you.

For me it's like dogs and cats.... I don't want to choose which I like best because I like them both. I would really miss being able to spread out a big paper chart (or for that matter an atlas for land trips), but I like digital ones too.
 
One of the problems with taking a quote off the internet, vs looking at the actual post from NOAA:

"NOAA will continue to create and maintain other forms of nautical charts, including the increasingly popular Print-on-Demand (POD) charts, updated paper charts available from NOAA-certified printers. NOAA electronic navigational charts (NOAA ENC®) and raster navigational charts (NOAA RNC®), used in a variety of electronic charting systems, are also updated weekly and are available for free download from the Coast Survey website. NOAA announced a new product as well: full-scale PDF (Portable Digital Format) nautical charts, available for free download on a trial basis.

What is being dropped is the lithograph charts which are printed and then distributed thru various stores. The Print on Demand, and all other charts are sill being produced. I can understand this. It used to be when you got a chart from the local commercial chart shop, they were hand corrected up to the most recent LNTM--that stopped years ago. Now the POD and PDF charts are up to date.
 
Print on Demand or its equivalent appears to have been the mode of operation for Canadian Charts for a while. Got one in Campbell River from a chandlery in 2010 on that kind of paper, and clearly not lithographed. Same function, same values as the old style paper charts.

Good NOAA went this route, also, actually makes it easier to get small scale versions of paper charts for planning. Need that full size one to see all the notations, however!
 
Pat Anderson":1ukrdvz5 said:
Here is what Jeffrey Siegel has to say about paper charts on Active Captain...
Click to expand...

I'd like to take a look at that (no bias, I'm sure :wink), but when I click the link I get a Google sign-in page (?)
 
Pat Anderson":14fetjdo said:
Here is what Jeffrey Siegel has to say about paper charts on Active Captain...
Click to expand...

I'd like to take a look at that, but when I click the link I get a Google sign-in page (?)

Of course one could the same case, but substitute "digital screen" (since I have read of several incidents that seemed to arise due to folks being totally into watching their little boat on the screen until......wham). Maybe it's just an "alluring" headline and the real second most dangerous thing is going to be inattention (regardless of charting method).
 
Bottom line: have a reliable back-up in case of electronic failure. Our iPhone (
protected in waterproof case) worked great (loaded with good charts and accurate GPS) when we had an electronic failure while cruising Lake Superior. Paper had previously always been our backup.
 
For folks that boat in a given area charts are great. I wonder what a paper chart user would spend in charts or chart books for doing the Great Loop? For me on our Garmin most of the Inter Coastal Waterway shows up as a magenta line. Just keep an eye on the navigation markers and your depths and keep your speed down. On the New Jersey section charts can get outdated pretty fast due events like hurricane Sandy. Even after big noreasters things get moved around. Electronic charts can be regularly updated. I'm not trying to change the world but we have two multifunction GPS units, a 15"laptop running coastal explorer with active captain. I have 12DC power outlet that is hard wired directly to a battery with an inline fuse. I have a plug with pigtails for that outlet close by should I need to get 12VDC to anything quickly that might of had a issue with a power failure. if that was not enough my wife's IPAD is never far from her. We carry a Sprint Hotspot for internet access. She has Garmin Blue Chart and radar weather among other things on her IPAD. She also carries a Droid phone with apps galore. As long as I don't lose her I'll be fine. I think we will be fine with out charts. Our boats not set up for any trans Atlantic crossings and none are planned. My eyes aren't what they used to be I like being able to zoom in on things. Our boat is pretty busy inside not really enough space to spread a full sized chart out and I never really liked chart books. To each there own.
D.D.
 
Years ago Dotty and set out in our 18 footer from Trenton, NJ for a trip to Poquoson, Va. We had just spent $99 on a gps into which we loaded waypoints. The screen had an arrow and the Lat and Long numbers and that was about all. The thing worked fine and we felt like real mariners when on the horizon we saw the center of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A few hours later we hit some bad weather and, although the arrow pointed straight ahead, Dotty suggested that I pull out the Coast Guard's phone number and check on the chart to see just where we were. I did both. Plotting the location on the chart I saw that we were off a place called Breezy Point and we were in fact being pushed backwards! We quickly turned right and headed for a safe harbor.
 
We made the decision about two years ago to stop buying paper charts. With the Chartplotter, 2 iPads, 2 smartphones, and all US/Canada charts on DVD for the laptop, I figured we were plenty covered for redundancy. I still like to have a current cruising guide, if available, for areas where we cruise.

Just try to buy a NOAA chart in the Tropical Tip... "A what??"

Jim B.
 
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