no more noaa paper charts

[jotruk]

I just read in the paper that NOAA will be discontinuing  the paper charts. It is an attempt to save money. Regular service and down loads will still be available and all updating will continue.

[s/v Faith]

I believe the release of the chart data to the public a few years ago was done with the goal of discontinuing the printing of paper charts.

If one has access to the right printer, they can still be produced.... 

[cap-couillon]

My first reaction when I saw this thread was "more intertube bs..."
but I was wrong. Here is NOAA's information on the subject.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131022_nauticalcharts.html

NOAA also announced yesterday they are releasing a new PDF file format for a 90 day trial period.
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts/
400dpi resolution, can get em printed at Office Depot, Kinko etc. NOAA says 36" plotter will print so still std full size paper chart. Copied a fair amount of Admiralty charts in Central America, and black and white was cheap. Actually easier to see under a red-light as well. Sure less trouble than converting KAPs to PDF and NOAA is updating weekly just like ENC and RNC packages. Make sure to leave a positive comment via the page above... Hopefully they will make this permanent and we can get cheap local prints rather than being stuck with the approved POD vendors. 

Tks for the heads up

[CharlieJ]

Can also print out Booklet charts on your home printer. Been using  them for a while. GREAT for ICW work in particular. Print every other page, turn the stack over, print the rest, put the pages in a 3 ring binder.

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/BookletChart.html

[Godot]

Makes perfect sense to me for them to get out of the printing business. Let the private industry handle the printing. Just so long as the electronic charts are available and updated, and POD is available when necessary, I don't think this will affect the way I work at all.

[Porter Wayfare]

I just downloaded a couple and they were very grainy on screen.  I'm dial-up, but still....  Very poor resolution.

[cap-couillon]

NOAA's PDFs are shipped at 400dpi resolution.  Check the default resolution on your PDF viewer.  Beware of raising it all the way up to 400 though, if it has to do any translation on the file... Tried using GIMP to look at one at full resolution and my poor little laptop just packed 'er bags and jumped ship.  Great format for a good print, not so much for viewing on an old laptop. Better to use the download-able RNCs (same charts) and something like OpenCpn for that job. One for paper charts one for electronic viewing. Course I use a different knife for cutting lines than I do for eating peas, so I don't mind.

Got a nice personal note back from the Coastal Survey "Inquiry Manager" Nick Perugini after sending them a requested comment on the new format. While he was happy I liked the format, and thought it sounded like they would work for the Solitaire... he did want to make sure that if I was in fact over 1,600 tons I was gonna carry "approved" POD vendor charts. Sure Nick, just after I replace my "approved" anchor light.

If the cruising community (active and armchair) starts posting comments as requested, Nick might be a pretty busy guy

Cap'Couillon

[Porter Wayfare]

Thanks for the tip.

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

I just downloaded a couple and they were very grainy on screen.  I'm dial-up, but still....  Very poor resolution.

If what you downloaded are PDF's, they should plot/print out fine.
I do engineering work & many times when you zoom in on a PDF file it does get very grainy because of the line/pen weights assigned to the various colors for definition prior to being converted to a PDF file.

[SalientAngle]

go vector

[cap-couillon]

go vector

Yo' Mama uses VNCs .........

[SalientAngle]

go vector

Yo' Mama uses VNCs .........

obviously, we are on different pages, and this, too, could become political... in vnc the V=visual... suggest you peruse: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/

[SalientAngle]

go vector

Yo' Mama uses VNCs .........

obviously, we are on different pages, and this, too, could become political... in vnc the V=visual... suggest you peruse: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/

ps, vector is not bitmap...

[cap-couillon]

Twas a bit of lighthearted tom-foolery. Sorry for the offense. You are correct ENC not VNC 
End of discussion

[SalientAngle]

no offense taken, cap... but I do take navigation seriously... and, I would not want anyone confusing "visual" with "vector"... just saying... and, unless people previously bought their efemeral charts from noaa, this thread is pointless... they are just one source for the tactile information... cheers, -jim

[Captain Smollett]

NOAA also announced yesterday they are releasing a new PDF file format for a 90 day trial period.
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts/

Update on this:

In February 2014, NOAA posted that the pdf format is now permanent.  It's another tool for the toolbox.