Farewell to Traditional Nautical Charts

[DArcy]

It looks like RNC are no longer available on the NOAA site. Too bad, there are some regions in the Great Lakes that ENC don't cover.

U.S. Office of Coast Survey

The raster sunset program was completed in December of 2024 with the cancellation of the last of NOAA's 1,007 paper charts

 

[dLj]

It looks like RNC are no longer available on the NOAA site. Too bad, there are some regions in the Great Lakes that ENC don't cover.

U.S. Office of Coast Survey

The raster sunset program was completed in December of 2024 with the cancellation of the last of NOAA's 1,007 paper charts

Where would that be?

dj

 

[DArcy]

Where would that be?

dj

Eastern end of Lake Ontario and the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.

 

[dLj]

Eastern end of Lake Ontario and the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.

Might that info be in the Canadian charts?

dj

 

[DArcy]

Yes, it is in the Canadian charts, and in the Garmin Boating (Navionics) app. I used to use Navionics web app for looking at charts online but it is useless since Garmin took it over. I installed OpenCPN but the Canadian charts are not freely available. I already have the Garmin App on my phone and tablet as well as charts on my chart plotter so I don't feel like paying for another source. The free NOAA charts were very handy.

 

[dLj]

They aren't very costly through o-charts on OpenCPN. It's a bit of a pain with the license and such. But I understand the "put another dollar in" gets very tiring....

dj

 

[shemandr]

This Luddite will miss them. I did download a bunch in the run up to the discontinuation so I at least have many of the charts I would need. I do like the interface of the Rasters because they look like what I'm familiar with. Is that so bad?
The ENC's look funny to me. You have to turn on/off levels of detail. From woefully inadequate to completely cluttered. The Raster's were beautiful in that the level of detail was curated to be about right. Not too much extraneous information but not leaving out important details. In the digital age too much information is just not recognized as a problem. But for me it is noise.
Yes, the ENC's are updated and zoomable. For me I would spend so much time configuring the chart that I would probably run into a buoy before I got it right.

 

[Davidasailor26]

For those that prefer the raster look NOAA does make a raster style view of ENC’s available at NOAA Custom Chart

it’s even possible to use the viewer to create a custom chart area to save as a PDF for printing.

 

[jssailem]

This Luddite will miss them.

 

[DArcy]

They aren't very costly through o-charts on OpenCPN. It's a bit of a pain with the license and such. But I understand the "put another dollar in" gets very tiring....

dj

dj, thanks for pointing out o-charts, they are very cheap and worth setting up. € 20 for the Great Lakes is a good deal. Much easier and cheaper than buying through Canadian Hydrographic Office

 

[jssailem]

D'Arcy. I have used the Opencpn charts to understand the waters off the BC Coast. However, there is a caveat about the charts.

oeSENC Charts​

​

"OpenCPN Encrypted System Electronical Nautical Charts" (oeSENC) are the most economical quality vector charts available. We receive S-57 data directly from Hydrographical Offices, encrypt them in the oeSENC format and deliver chart sets for their individual use in OpenCPN. If your navigation zone is available this can be a very good choice to get up-to-date quality charts at a reasonable cost.​

​

Different from S-63 or genuine S-57 charts (US), these are not “Official Charts” or “ENCs” in the context of “carriage requirements”, as they are not issued nor certified by official bodies. Even if the content might be the same. For details about the legal framework and usage of our charts refer to the EULA.
[EULA]​

At the cost difference between official "Canadian Hydrographic Service" charts, there is a way to rationalize the choice.

 

[SkiingSailor]

D'Arcy. I have used the Opencpn charts to understand the waters off the BC Coast. However, there is a caveat about the charts.

oeSENC Charts​

​

"OpenCPN Encrypted System Electronical Nautical Charts" (oeSENC) are the most economical quality vector charts available. We receive S-57 data directly from Hydrographical Offices, encrypt them in the oeSENC format and deliver chart sets for their individual use in OpenCPN. If your navigation zone is available this can be a very good choice to get up-to-date quality charts at a reasonable cost.​

​

Different from S-63 or genuine S-57 charts (US), these are not “Official Charts” or “ENCs” in the context of “carriage requirements”, as they are not issued nor certified by official bodies. Even if the content might be the same. For details about the legal framework and usage of our charts refer to the EULA.​

[EULA]​

At the cost difference between official "Canadian Hydrographic Service" charts, there is a way to rationalize the choice.

I have both O-charts and official CHS ENC charts for Pacific Canada. The charts are identical.

 

[DArcy]

I don't need to meet official chart carriage requirements and I have 2 other forms of charts on board already. For the price, the o-charts are just a nice to have.

I have both O-charts and official CHS ENC charts for Pacific Canada. The charts are identical.

This is good confirmation, thanks for the input.