EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part two of a weekly series on computer-based navigation and electronic charting. For more about this series and why we wrote it, please see our Room 13 blog.
When the U.S. government released its electronic chart library for free in 2005, it was greeted by a cheer in the boating community. Charts would be available free for the taking by anyone with an Internet connection-who could complain?
But the reality is that many boaters still don't know where to start. They freeze when they see the dizzying list of thousands of charts, the cryptic file names, and the unfamiliar file extensions served up on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. Do you need Chart 11448 or not? And who knows what BSB, KAP and PTC file extensions mean?
Begin by making a list of charts you need using the Catalog of Charts and Publications or on the NOAA website (below). With list in hand, you then enter the ChartServer database (above). Instructions guide you to select and order as many as 100 charts at a time, which are bundled for download in a single compressed folder.
It is problems like this that led Mad Mariner to launch its weekly series on navigation software and electronic charting. Throughout the rest of the year, we will cover what you need to set up a laptop-based electronic charting system, including hardware, software, external devices and charts.
In this installment, we look at how to take advantage of NOAA's system-yes, there is a system-including finding the charts you need, understanding the file names and content, and downloading them over the Internet.
Remember that in order to download and use NOAA charts you need a computer that is loaded with navigation software. Just like you cannot view a PDF document without Adobe's Acrobat Reader, you cannot view charts without navigation software from Nobeltec, Rose Point or some other vendor. There are more than a dozen to choose from, ranging from free minimally-featured options to richly-featured and highly configurable options costing thousands of dollars. (For a story on setting up a basic system, see link below).
FINDING WHAT YOU NEED
Unfortunately, NOAA's site does not have a "New England" button that intelligently downloads all the charts you need to cruise New England. Instead, you must do the work, consulting a NOAA Catalog of Charts & Publications, available for free at retail chart sellers or downloadable on the NOAA website. There are five editions: Atlantic Coast, Pacific Coast, Alaska, Great Lakes and Gulf Coast. These catalogs list all charts visually by their NOAA designator number. For example, the chart covering Martha's Vineyard to Block Island is Chart 13218. Cape Cod Canal and Approaches is Chart 13236. For complete chart coverage of New England you would need to look up all the charts, then download them. That's 107 chart folders, 209 charts, and 734 files!
Once you've identified the chart numbers you want to obtain, the next obstacle is the download itself. NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) both use web-enabled software, called ChartServer, which currently is limited to 100 charts per download. If you're on a pay-per-minute dial-up connection, think before you click. The New England example, with 209 charts and 734 files, involves a 501.5 megabyte download-half a gigabyte! With a common 56 Kbps dial-up connection, the download time would be more than 20 hours. Even with a high-speed DSL connection, it would still take more than two hours!
