On 20 Jun 2005 14:05:37 -0700, wrote:

I believe Canada Hydrographic Service has "licensed"
a private corporation to distribute chart information in a variety of
formats. The govt. is supposed to receive royalties from the sales of
paper or electronic chart data. So it is technically true that CANGOV
doesn't produce paper charts anymore.

Nautical Data International (NDI) has a contract to distribute
_digital_ chart data for the Canadian Hydrographic Service. CHS still
prints and distributes paper charts and related publications, so far
as I know.

Last I head, the private corporation had filed for bankruptcy, and the
government wasn't getting paid.

Due to many complaints from users, CHS attempted to cancel their
contract with NDI - in defence, NDI is attempting to declare
bankruptcy, in order to delay or prevent the cancellation of the
contract.

As for getting a decent printout from a CD, that is going to be
absolutely possible- depending on the format and resolution of the
information on the CD. Most printing today is CTP (computer to press).
The biggest hassle for most of us will be the 8.5 x 11" format of the
typical home or small office printer, It will take a lot taping and
fitting to create a paper chart covering any real area in some of the
smaller scales.

I believe CHS has been (thinking about) experimenting with
"print-on-demand" charts, where the retailer won't actually stock
paper charts, but will have the equipment to print them on request.

There is a pretty decent website for Canada Hydrographic, but I don't
remember the exact address.
That may have more info for you.

http://www.charts.gc.ca/pub/


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
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