
Comparison of Traditional NOAA Charts to NOAA Custom Charts (NCC)
From SoundingsOnline by Kim Kavin
The digital charts need work, and critics want to see improvement right away.
For the past half dozen years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been telling boaters that it plans to sunset its paper and raster nautical charts.
That process was completed this past December when the last of NOAA’s paper charts was canceled.
Now, if boaters want printed-out charts from the government, they have to use the electronic NOAA Custom Chart program.
Now, if boaters want printed-out charts from the government, they have to use the electronic NOAA Custom Chart program.
Instead of boaters being able to order an updated paper chart by number—say, NOAA Chart 13230 for Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts—the Custom Chart program creates paper charts from the agency’s Electronic Nautical Chart database.
This method satisfies regulations for larger ships, while recreational boaters can click on a defined area and then print out a chart based on their request.
But this new way to get corrected, printed-out charts is causing frustration.
But this new way to get corrected, printed-out charts is causing frustration.
NOAA Custom Chart of Pensacola Bay, Florida
CATZOC & notes
Separate 8.5-by-11-inch PDF pages contain notes and a zone of confidence or ZOC diagram, similar to the survey source diagrams seen on traditional nautical charts.
Separate 8.5-by-11-inch PDF pages contain notes and a zone of confidence or ZOC diagram, similar to the survey source diagrams seen on traditional nautical charts.
Lee Estes, owner and president of Maptech, says the Custom Chart program delivers a lot of the traditional information, but sometimes displays it incorrectly.
“They do have NOAA symbols on them, like the buoy symbols, so that’s good,” Estes says.
“They do have NOAA symbols on them, like the buoy symbols, so that’s good,” Estes says.
“And they have, from 2 feet away, the look and feel of NOAA charts, which is also good. They are all the same colors as a NOAA chart for the land, the marshes, all of that. Where the wheels start to come off the wagon is when you create a chart from the NCC. It has problems displaying chart information—and sometimes it’s a lot, depending on the chart you’re making.”
NOAA acknowledges these issues and says the next big fix for the system will happen in November.
“We are aware of those labeling issues, and we are actively engaged with our software vendor who produces the engine on fixing those engines,” Julia Powell, chief of the marine chart division at NOAA, told Soundings.
NOAA acknowledges these issues and says the next big fix for the system will happen in November.
“We are aware of those labeling issues, and we are actively engaged with our software vendor who produces the engine on fixing those engines,” Julia Powell, chief of the marine chart division at NOAA, told Soundings.
“I have had countless phone calls with them.”
To be clear, there don’t appear to be any major concerns using NOAA Custom Charts on multifunction displays where boaters can zoom in and click to see details.
To be clear, there don’t appear to be any major concerns using NOAA Custom Charts on multifunction displays where boaters can zoom in and click to see details.
The problems happen when the charts are printed out.
In the past, to provide clarity and prevent clutter on a chart, a label might have been rotated sideways so it wouldn’t overlay on top of something else.
In the past, to provide clarity and prevent clutter on a chart, a label might have been rotated sideways so it wouldn’t overlay on top of something else.
The way the new NOAA program works, some information, like bridge heights, is being printed on top of other information or being presented in some other way that makes it impossible to read.
“A human being with traditional charts would say, ‘Let’s put this label here and rotate it here and make sure nothing is covering it up so you could understand it,’” Estes says.
“A human being with traditional charts would say, ‘Let’s put this label here and rotate it here and make sure nothing is covering it up so you could understand it,’” Estes says.
“This program just takes the bridge information and throws it on top of everything. You can’t read anything but the top one, and that’s hard to read because of all the other stuff.”
Powell says most of the complaints NOAA is receiving are not from recreational boaters, who often rely on multifunction displays where the Custom Charts allow skippers to zoom in.
Powell says most of the complaints NOAA is receiving are not from recreational boaters, who often rely on multifunction displays where the Custom Charts allow skippers to zoom in.
The concerns are from companies that use NOAA charts to make things like printed-out, spiral-bound chart books.
“One of the reasons why NOAA opted to disband its traditional paper chart program is that we had sales figures,” Powell says.
“One of the reasons why NOAA opted to disband its traditional paper chart program is that we had sales figures,” Powell says.
The number of people purchasing paper charts “really was a very small bit of the market, whereas the electronic navigational chart is just really that primary market.”
Maptech is one of those companies that’s having problems, Estes says.
Maptech is one of those companies that’s having problems, Estes says.
From his perspective, there are no issues with boaters using electronic charts in general, but when boaters eventually want updated printed-out versions, they may be frustrated about what it takes to get them.
For instance, he says, companies like his will need to take more time to publish new editions while making all kinds of corrections.
“Not too many people have noticed this because not too many people have used a custom chart yet,” Estes says.
“Not too many people have noticed this because not too many people have used a custom chart yet,” Estes says.
“We, on the other hand, are looking at this much closer than the average person because we want to use this to correct our charts going forward, and we don’t want to find out after we print 5,000 books that people can’t read any of this information.”
Estes says NOAA should make fixing the problem more of a priority, since this system is now the only way to get corrected charts from the government.
“I would like some urgency in getting this corrected,” he says.
Estes says NOAA should make fixing the problem more of a priority, since this system is now the only way to get corrected charts from the government.
“I would like some urgency in getting this corrected,” he says.
“If people go to this government-sanctioned place to get government-sanctioned information, it’s not right. They owe us correct data that’s displayed correctly.”
Powell says that right now, the technology is not where NOAA wants it to be either, but the agency is continuing to work with its software vendor while also making improvements internally.
“Unfortunately, it’s never going to be like the old handwork, but we are trying to get it to where it is an acceptable solution,” Powell says.
Powell says that right now, the technology is not where NOAA wants it to be either, but the agency is continuing to work with its software vendor while also making improvements internally.
“Unfortunately, it’s never going to be like the old handwork, but we are trying to get it to where it is an acceptable solution,” Powell says.
“We continue to focus on that, and we hope with the next big software release, we should have significant improvement on navigation labeling sometime in November 2025.”
Links :
Links :
- GeoGarage blog :
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