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Author Topic:   NOAA to quit printing paper nautical charts

Chuck Tribolet posted 10-23-2013 08:29 AM ET (US)
[This article had no content except a hyperlink which perhaps expands on the topic of NOAA chart publication going forward.--jimh]
jimh posted 10-23-2013 09:05 AM ET (US)
On October 22, 2013 NOAA announced it will no longer publish its chart data in the traditional printed chart format using multi-color lithography and sturdy paper. Details of this are given on the NOAA website. Please see
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131022_nauticalcharts.html
for the announcement. NOAA says it will continue to provide the charts in portable document format (PDF) for printing on demand.
The USA and NOAA are somewhat unique in providing all of their chart data for free. The $20 printed charts were being sold at about their actual cost to print, according to one source. For the next three months on a trial basis NOAA is providing high-resolution PDF files for almost their entire printed chart inventory from
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts/
The three-month trial is said to be an evaluation period to see how much usage is made of the service.
Printed charts can still be obtained from certified vendors who offer print-on-demand versions of the NOAA charts. These certified vendors provide charts printed with sufficient quality and resolution to make their products certifiable as official charts to meet carriage requirements of commercial ships, that is, the charts qualify as being suitable for navigation and have the imprimatur of NOAA.
boatdryver posted 10-23-2013 12:19 PM ET (US)
This is sad news to me.
Although the boats I charter to cruise the Pacific NW all have chart plotters, I'm a paper chart guy when it comes to planning each day's run, then just use the electronic charts for piloting while under way.
Luckily, one is in Canadian waters 3 hours after leaving Anacortes, and Canada still offers paper charts. By the way, those Canadian Charts are more colorful and a joy to use.
JimL
K Albus posted 10-23-2013 12:44 PM ET (US)
The NOAA charts will now be available in the same manner as the Canadian charts have been offered for years - from print-on-demand vendors. The only difference you're likely to notice is that you will probably pay a little bit more for a NOAA chart when buying it from a vendor than you previously would have paid when buying it directly from NOAA. I've never purchased a paper chart directly from NOAA. All of my paper charts have been purchased from print-on-demand vendors.
L H G posted 10-23-2013 01:00 PM ET (US)
Ken - What is the paper quality of those print on demand charts. Is it the same as the Gov uses? Does the ink fade?
I am involved in the production of artwork using the entire Lake Michigan chart as the covering layer, and paper qualilty is important in this work. The scale would have to be exactly the same also.
K Albus posted 10-23-2013 01:32 PM ET (US)
Larry - I don't believe the print-on-demand charts use the same lithograph paper that is used for the NOAA printed charts. See: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pod/POD.htm
Dave Sutton posted 10-23-2013 02:55 PM ET (US)
"What is the paper quality of those print on demand charts"

Crappy. And not being lithographed means lower quality printing work as well.
This is the end of an era. How shameful.
Dave
.
Dave Sutton posted 10-23-2013 02:57 PM ET (US)
"The $20 printed charts were being sold at about their actual cost to print, according to one source"
It's a Government SERVICE, not a profit center.
They damned well *ought* to be sold at cost.

Dave
.
17 bodega posted 11-01-2013 10:46 AM ET (US)
NOAA is one of the better government services I have encountered. I am happy to pay a premium for their higher quality charts. The high quality paper and printing makes them appropriate to mount in frames, post on the walls etc. The US Coast Guard station near my home has these local charts on the walls of their offices with push pins marking boating emergencies, and instances where people were in the water, marked by different color push pins.
I have always been impressed by authentic nautical charts for their quality. I will keep on the lookout for used ones...
jimh posted 11-01-2013 01:43 PM ET (US)
The folks at NOAA missed the boat on this one, so to speak. They should have announced a year in advance they would stop printing charts. They probably would have been flooded with orders for charts for non-navigational purposes.
kglinz posted 11-01-2013 01:51 PM ET (US)
NOAA Raster charts are changing to 400 DPI from 254 DOI, so charts printed on a good commercial printer should be much better that current charts are, soon.. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/index.htm
Hoosier posted 11-01-2013 02:22 PM ET (US)
FWIW: When this was announced I went looking for waterproof ink for inkjet printers, it turns out that Epson ink is water resistant. I got a nice Epson printer, with WiFi, at Sam's for $70. The ink is really water resistant, unlike HP's.
Dave Sutton posted 11-01-2013 05:21 PM ET (US)
"NOAA is one of the better government services I have encountered"

Really?
OK, well then: Google "NOAA Scandal" and see what you come up with.
It could be the Orca Whale killed by explosives scandal,
or the NOAA Asset Forfeiture scandal,
or the NOAA GSA scandal,
or the NOAA Law Enforcement scandal,

Or you could just buy my friend Gary Gentile's book NOAA's Ark: The Rise of the Fourth Reich, which pretty much sums up all of the above and documents a lot more.
Dave
.
jimh posted 11-02-2013 01:19 PM ET (US)
I am not sure where the specifications for dots-per-inch came from. In regard to the usual offset lithography printing of old charts, the only elements that have dots are half-tone screens, usually used for reproducing a continuous tone image, like a photograph where the image is screened and reproduced by small dots. On a printed chart, a line, like the drawing of a navigation object, is a solid line of ink--no dots. If a solid color is needed, like the tan used to represent the land areas, the usual method is to use that color ink, and apply the ink as a solid area. For the blue areas, one ink color was used, but it was screened to different densities to create different shades of blue, allowing for light blue and dark blue water areas. In some areas the black is surprinted or overprinted on the solid tan color to give some detail to shoreline areas, such as to show terrain features.
It is only when printing with color laser printers that halftone screens are used to produce solid colors out of collections of primary color dots. These days a good ink jet printer can print with astonishing resolution. One typical ultra-high resolution ink jet printer says it prints with 5760x1440 dots per inch. This would suggest that in a chart that was printed on such a device to a size of 36 x 48 inches there would be
5.76 x 1.44 x 3.6 x4.8 x 10^8 = 1.43 x 10^10 dots, or 14.3-billion dots
That is a whole lot of dots--over 800,000 dots per square inch. I think there are printers with even higher resolution.
jimh posted 11-02-2013 03:29 PM ET (US)
Re NOAA Law Enforcement Scandal--I was not aware of this until Dave mentioned. After reading
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/ where_are_the_rolling_heads_from_noaa.html
I am astonished that it has not received more coverage.
jimh posted 11-02-2013 03:42 PM ET (US)
Quite coincidentally, one of the boats that NOAA purchased with money generated from fines levied against fishermen was a Boston Whaler 345 CONQUEST. This is the boat described as "NOAA's party boat" in this article:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/noaas_party_boat.html
I have to give NOAA high marks. If I got to buy a boat with someone else's money, I would damn sure buy a Boston Whaler 345 CONQUEST. It is one helluva $425,000 outboard boat. I would have expected it to have more endurance than the nine operational patrols that NOAA used it.
Dave Sutton posted 11-02-2013 08:12 PM ET (US)
NOAA is very likely the perfect poster child for corrupt US government agencies run amok. There is absolutely no accountability. Read more and dig a bit more and you'll be amazed.
So why print charts and sell them at <gasp> *cost*?
Dave
.

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Author	Topic: NOAA to quit printing paper nautical charts
Chuck Tribolet	posted 10-23-2013 08:29 AM ET (US) [This article had no content except a hyperlink which perhaps expands on the topic of NOAA chart publication going forward.--jimh]
jimh	posted 10-23-2013 09:05 AM ET (US) On October 22, 2013 NOAA announced it will no longer publish its chart data in the traditional printed chart format using multi-color lithography and sturdy paper. Details of this are given on the NOAA website. Please see http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131022_nauticalcharts.html for the announcement. NOAA says it will continue to provide the charts in portable document format (PDF) for printing on demand. The USA and NOAA are somewhat unique in providing all of their chart data for free. The $20 printed charts were being sold at about their actual cost to print, according to one source. For the next three months on a trial basis NOAA is providing high-resolution PDF files for almost their entire printed chart inventory from http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts/ The three-month trial is said to be an evaluation period to see how much usage is made of the service. Printed charts can still be obtained from certified vendors who offer print-on-demand versions of the NOAA charts. These certified vendors provide charts printed with sufficient quality and resolution to make their products certifiable as official charts to meet carriage requirements of commercial ships, that is, the charts qualify as being suitable for navigation and have the imprimatur of NOAA.
boatdryver	posted 10-23-2013 12:19 PM ET (US) This is sad news to me. Although the boats I charter to cruise the Pacific NW all have chart plotters, I'm a paper chart guy when it comes to planning each day's run, then just use the electronic charts for piloting while under way. Luckily, one is in Canadian waters 3 hours after leaving Anacortes, and Canada still offers paper charts. By the way, those Canadian Charts are more colorful and a joy to use. JimL
K Albus	posted 10-23-2013 12:44 PM ET (US) The NOAA charts will now be available in the same manner as the Canadian charts have been offered for years - from print-on-demand vendors. The only difference you're likely to notice is that you will probably pay a little bit more for a NOAA chart when buying it from a vendor than you previously would have paid when buying it directly from NOAA. I've never purchased a paper chart directly from NOAA. All of my paper charts have been purchased from print-on-demand vendors.
L H G	posted 10-23-2013 01:00 PM ET (US) Ken - What is the paper quality of those print on demand charts. Is it the same as the Gov uses? Does the ink fade? I am involved in the production of artwork using the entire Lake Michigan chart as the covering layer, and paper qualilty is important in this work. The scale would have to be exactly the same also.
K Albus	posted 10-23-2013 01:32 PM ET (US) Larry - I don't believe the print-on-demand charts use the same lithograph paper that is used for the NOAA printed charts. See: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pod/POD.htm
Dave Sutton	posted 10-23-2013 02:55 PM ET (US) "What is the paper quality of those print on demand charts" Crappy. And not being lithographed means lower quality printing work as well. This is the end of an era. How shameful. Dave .
Dave Sutton	posted 10-23-2013 02:57 PM ET (US) "The $20 printed charts were being sold at about their actual cost to print, according to one source" It's a Government SERVICE, not a profit center. They damned well ought to be sold at cost. Dave .
17 bodega	posted 11-01-2013 10:46 AM ET (US) NOAA is one of the better government services I have encountered. I am happy to pay a premium for their higher quality charts. The high quality paper and printing makes them appropriate to mount in frames, post on the walls etc. The US Coast Guard station near my home has these local charts on the walls of their offices with push pins marking boating emergencies, and instances where people were in the water, marked by different color push pins. I have always been impressed by authentic nautical charts for their quality. I will keep on the lookout for used ones...
jimh	posted 11-01-2013 01:43 PM ET (US) The folks at NOAA missed the boat on this one, so to speak. They should have announced a year in advance they would stop printing charts. They probably would have been flooded with orders for charts for non-navigational purposes.
kglinz	posted 11-01-2013 01:51 PM ET (US) NOAA Raster charts are changing to 400 DPI from 254 DOI, so charts printed on a good commercial printer should be much better that current charts are, soon.. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/index.htm
Hoosier	posted 11-01-2013 02:22 PM ET (US) FWIW: When this was announced I went looking for waterproof ink for inkjet printers, it turns out that Epson ink is water resistant. I got a nice Epson printer, with WiFi, at Sam's for $70. The ink is really water resistant, unlike HP's.
Dave Sutton	posted 11-01-2013 05:21 PM ET (US) "NOAA is one of the better government services I have encountered" Really? OK, well then: Google "NOAA Scandal" and see what you come up with. It could be the Orca Whale killed by explosives scandal, or the NOAA Asset Forfeiture scandal, or the NOAA GSA scandal, or the NOAA Law Enforcement scandal, Or you could just buy my friend Gary Gentile's book NOAA's Ark: The Rise of the Fourth Reich, which pretty much sums up all of the above and documents a lot more. Dave .
jimh	posted 11-02-2013 01:19 PM ET (US) I am not sure where the specifications for dots-per-inch came from. In regard to the usual offset lithography printing of old charts, the only elements that have dots are half-tone screens, usually used for reproducing a continuous tone image, like a photograph where the image is screened and reproduced by small dots. On a printed chart, a line, like the drawing of a navigation object, is a solid line of ink--no dots. If a solid color is needed, like the tan used to represent the land areas, the usual method is to use that color ink, and apply the ink as a solid area. For the blue areas, one ink color was used, but it was screened to different densities to create different shades of blue, allowing for light blue and dark blue water areas. In some areas the black is surprinted or overprinted on the solid tan color to give some detail to shoreline areas, such as to show terrain features. It is only when printing with color laser printers that halftone screens are used to produce solid colors out of collections of primary color dots. These days a good ink jet printer can print with astonishing resolution. One typical ultra-high resolution ink jet printer says it prints with 5760x1440 dots per inch. This would suggest that in a chart that was printed on such a device to a size of 36 x 48 inches there would be 5.76 x 1.44 x 3.6 x4.8 x 10^8 = 1.43 x 10^10 dots, or 14.3-billion dots That is a whole lot of dots--over 800,000 dots per square inch. I think there are printers with even higher resolution.
jimh	posted 11-02-2013 03:29 PM ET (US) Re NOAA Law Enforcement Scandal--I was not aware of this until Dave mentioned. After reading http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/ where_are_the_rolling_heads_from_noaa.html I am astonished that it has not received more coverage.
jimh	posted 11-02-2013 03:42 PM ET (US) Quite coincidentally, one of the boats that NOAA purchased with money generated from fines levied against fishermen was a Boston Whaler 345 CONQUEST. This is the boat described as "NOAA's party boat" in this article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/noaas_party_boat.html I have to give NOAA high marks. If I got to buy a boat with someone else's money, I would damn sure buy a Boston Whaler 345 CONQUEST. It is one helluva $425,000 outboard boat. I would have expected it to have more endurance than the nine operational patrols that NOAA used it.
Dave Sutton	posted 11-02-2013 08:12 PM ET (US) NOAA is very likely the perfect poster child for corrupt US government agencies run amok. There is absolutely no accountability. Read more and dig a bit more and you'll be amazed. So why print charts and sell them at <gasp> cost? Dave .