A friend and professional mariner passed this on to me. Maybe it's old news
here, I haven't been following the issue. But, just in case anyone hasn't
heard:

MapTech's agreement with NOAA for raster charts has expired and NOAA has now
made its raster charts available for free online.

This means that you can get entire raster chart collections for free from
NOAA. There 1,016 BSB format charts online at NOAA's website, but the
maximum that can be downloaded at one time is 100. So if you're intent on
suddenly accumulating a complete chart library of the U.S., it may take you
some time and effort. But if you're only looking for a few specific areas,
or for updating your existing library, this is the easy way to do it. The
gov't continues to update these charts electronically as necessary.

Several private firms -- MapTech, Nobeltec, Richardson's, etc. -- are
repackaging these raster charts for sale on CDs and DVDs. Sometimes you can
get such a disk free as a sales premium, if you buy another navigational
product from the same vendor.

For more information and downloads:
http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/Index.htm

The gov't is also making vector charts available for free on-line down-load,
but the available number is less, and the vector charts are for some reason
more difficult to download. The vector charts are also more difficult to
use, but that's a personal opinion. To me, vector charts just don't look
real; on my computer console a vector chart reminds me of a video game.

--
Roger Long

NOAA made them available about a year to 18 months ago, if memory serves.
I agree with you on raster looking more real and, on Fugawi at least,
zooming in and out seems more tedious.
But Fugawi ENC ships with a CD that has 3-D topography of some (don't the
extent) coastal regions that work with the vector charts that could be
useful in identifying entrances, etc. Don't know if these are available from
NOAA nor what one would need to view them.
BF

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
A friend and professional mariner passed this on to me. Maybe it's old
news
here, I haven't been following the issue. But, just in case anyone hasn't
heard:

MapTech's agreement with NOAA for raster charts has expired and NOAA has
now
made its raster charts available for free online.

This means that you can get entire raster chart collections for free from
NOAA. There 1,016 BSB format charts online at NOAA's website, but the
maximum that can be downloaded at one time is 100. So if you're intent on
suddenly accumulating a complete chart library of the U.S., it may take
you
some time and effort. But if you're only looking for a few specific areas,
or for updating your existing library, this is the easy way to do it. The
gov't continues to update these charts electronically as necessary.

Several private firms -- MapTech, Nobeltec, Richardson's, etc. -- are
repackaging these raster charts for sale on CDs and DVDs. Sometimes you
can
get such a disk free as a sales premium, if you buy another navigational
product from the same vendor.

For more information and downloads:
http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/Index.htm

The gov't is also making vector charts available for free on-line
down-load,
but the available number is less, and the vector charts are for some
reason
more difficult to download. The vector charts are also more difficult to
use, but that's a personal opinion. To me, vector charts just don't look
real; on my computer console a vector chart reminds me of a video game.

--
Roger Long

ENC chart URL: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/index.htm

The 'neat' thing about ENC charts (expecially if you have a 'mac'
running MacENC) is you can overlay GRIB weather info. A good forum
for Mac integration with AIS, GRIB, Course (tack angle) optimization,
etc. is http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/index.htm ... and the
best part is that the most 'elegant' macintosh platform for both ENC
and Raster is $99.00



In article , BF
wrote:

NOAA made them available about a year to 18 months ago, if memory serves.
I agree with you on raster looking more real and, on Fugawi at least,
zooming in and out seems more tedious.
But Fugawi ENC ships with a CD that has 3-D topography of some (don't the
extent) coastal regions that work with the vector charts that could be
useful in identifying entrances, etc. Don't know if these are available from
NOAA nor what one would need to view them.
BF

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
A friend and professional mariner passed this on to me. Maybe it's old
news
here, I haven't been following the issue. But, just in case anyone hasn't
heard:

MapTech's agreement with NOAA for raster charts has expired and NOAA has
now
made its raster charts available for free online.

This means that you can get entire raster chart collections for free from
NOAA. There 1,016 BSB format charts online at NOAA's website, but the
maximum that can be downloaded at one time is 100. So if you're intent on
suddenly accumulating a complete chart library of the U.S., it may take
you
some time and effort. But if you're only looking for a few specific areas,
or for updating your existing library, this is the easy way to do it. The
gov't continues to update these charts electronically as necessary.

Several private firms -- MapTech, Nobeltec, Richardson's, etc. -- are
repackaging these raster charts for sale on CDs and DVDs. Sometimes you
can
get such a disk free as a sales premium, if you buy another navigational
product from the same vendor.

For more information and downloads:
http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/Index.htm

The gov't is also making vector charts available for free on-line
down-load,
but the available number is less, and the vector charts are for some
reason
more difficult to download. The vector charts are also more difficult to
use, but that's a personal opinion. To me, vector charts just don't look
real; on my computer console a vector chart reminds me of a video game.

--
Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:
A friend and professional mariner passed this on to me. Maybe it's old
news here, I haven't been following the issue. But, just in case anyone
hasn't heard:

MapTech's agreement with NOAA for raster charts has expired and NOAA has
now made its raster charts available for free online.

This means that you can get entire raster chart collections for free
from NOAA. There 1,016 BSB format charts online at NOAA's website, but
the maximum that can be downloaded at one time is 100. So if you're
intent on suddenly accumulating a complete chart library of the U.S., it
may take you some time and effort. But if you're only looking for a few
specific areas, or for updating your existing library, this is the easy
way to do it. The gov't continues to update these charts electronically
as necessary.

Several private firms -- MapTech, Nobeltec, Richardson's, etc. -- are
repackaging these raster charts for sale on CDs and DVDs. Sometimes you
can get such a disk free as a sales premium, if you buy another
navigational product from the same vendor.

For more information and downloads:
http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/Index.htm

The gov't is also making vector charts available for free on-line
down-load, but the available number is less, and the vector charts are
for some reason more difficult to download. The vector charts are also
more difficult to use, but that's a personal opinion. To me, vector
charts just don't look real; on my computer console a vector chart
reminds me of a video game.

These have been available for over a year. Only problem is they are only
the US, Puerto Rico, and USVI.

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:30:17 -0500, krj wrote:

These have been available for over a year. Only problem is they are only
the US, Puerto Rico, and USVI.

Does anyone know what's happening with Canadian charts?

Matt O.

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:22:14 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

The vector charts are also more difficult to
use, but that's a personal opinion. To me, vector charts just don't look
real; on my computer console a vector chart reminds me of a video game.

I agree with you on the appearance of vector charts but they have a
couple of advantages also that are not immediately obvious. For one,
they can be zoomed in or out to what ever degree of detail is
appropriate without becoming pixelated or having the type fonts
become too small. Another advantage is that they can be
electronically rotated and still have the fonts appear right side up.

Wayne.B wrote:

I agree with you on the appearance

Actually, you're agreeing with my friend. I'm still using paper myself
although with the GPS as an adjunct.

--
Roger Long

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:58:45 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Actually, you're agreeing with my friend. I'm still using paper myself
although with the GPS as an adjunct.

Olde school, very olde.

If you sail in one general area that you come to know, love and have
all of the paper charts for, it's not so bad. I sailed like that on
Long Island Sound and points east for many years.

These days however when we are cruising thousands of miles per year,
to many different areas, the idea of navigating only it with paper
charts would be daunting indeed. I carry chart books for backup but
most of them never get opened.

Wayne.B wrote:

In Maine, except for the Portland Harbor channels, I use charts just as much
in waters I'm familiar with as in new areas. It's pretty much mandatory in
our complex geography.

If I had a powerboat or a larger sailboat with a pilothouse, dedicated nav
station, and crew to do a lot of the other tasks, I would certainly have a
full electronic set up with electronic charts, chart plotters, etc. Setting
up and using something like that was a primary reason for thinking about
getting a powerboat when we first decided to get back into boating. On the
sailboat however, it's a different dynamic, a different mindset, keeping it
simple is part of the charm.

I actually find that I prefer the chartbooks more in unfamiliar areas.
Maybe it's just being old enough to have run fog clock and compass back in
the days when only a few boats had Loran and they had cathode ray displays
where you had to turn knobs to match pulse rates. Budgets and the physical
realities of small sailboat life dictate a small GPS. I use the chartbook
for overall situational awareness and the GPS for the close in view and
position. It's a nice compromise that doesn't make me feel I'm getting too
far from my roots.

If I were cruising in a boat like yours, I'm sure I would have and greatly
enjoy using pretty much the same set up you have.

You ought to open up those chart books though. It's a lot more enjoyable
anticipating and planning the next day's cruising with those nice paper
graphics in your hand than looking at a LCD display.

--
Roger Long

Oops. Wayne B. didn't write that, I did. That little header slipped up out
of the window when I erased the quote.

--
Roger Long