NOAA Evaluates Development and Distribution of Charts and Publications
The US Office of Coast Survey, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce is privatising the printing and distribution of nautical charts, including digital charts, and is seeking public comment. The regulations that govern nautical chart and publication carriage requirements remain unchanged.
After 13 April 2014, NOAA-certified Print-on-Demand (POD) charts will be the only official source available for mariners to obtain NOAA paper nautical charts. NOAA-certified POD charts, available since 1999 through certified POD partners, are official paper nautical charts that are up-to-date at the time of printing. These charts are considered "published" by NOAA's National Ocean Service, and therefore meet chart carriage requirements.
POD charts are currently available from NOAA commercial partners OceanGrafix and East View Geospatial. Companies interested in becoming a POD chart provider, can find guidance online.
Feedback is sought on three issues.
For a three-month trial period (22 October 2013 to 22 January 22 2014), NOAA is providing free digital chart image files in PDF (Portable Document Format) file format. The free PDF chart files are available for public use. The digital charts are also available as NOAA-certified Print-on-Demand charts. NOAA will evaluate the usage and user feedback to decide whether to continue providing public access to PDF nautical charts. Please note that the free PDF charts do not meet chart carriage requirements under federal regulations unless printed to NOAA quality standards by a NOAA-certified POD partner. Download PDF charts at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts.
NOAA's Office of Coast Survey is providing high-resolution NOAA raster navigational charts (NOAA RNC) for public testing and evaluation. The Office of Coast Survey is upgrading the image quality from the current 254 DPI to 400 DPI to improve clarity, readability, and aesthetics of this digital charting product. The evaluation dataset, which is kept up-to-date like the current RNCs, is available for download for Tampa Bay, Detroit, Long Island Sound, and Puget Sound. If no problems are identified or left unresolved, Coast Survey intends to upgrade all RNCs to 400 dpi by February 2014. Software product developers and RNC users are invited to provide comments or questions regarding this new service.
An online seamless viewer of NOAA's electronic navigational charts (NOAA ENC) is available for public use. NOAA ENC Online optimses the viewing of the entire ENC suite, using the display rules defined by the International Hydrographic Organization's S-52 standards, Specifications for Chart Content and Display Aspects of ECDIS. The public is invited to provide comments or questions regarding this new service.
Feedback can be submitted written, faxed, or emailed by midnight, 3 February 2014.Submit comments by mail to Director, Office of Coast Survey, 1315 East-West Highway #6216, Silver Spring MD 20910; or by using the NOAA Nautical Inquiry & Comment System.
