OFFICIAL NOAA ENC[reg] DATA NOAA has announced in the Federal Register (May 21, 2003 Volume 68, Number 98) that it will remove the "provisional" status from the NOAA ENCs[reg] that are distributed, free of charge, on the Internet. This will take place at the end of June, 2003. At that point, a NOAA ENC[reg] will constitute a "nautical chart" for the purposes of the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. To see the full text of the announcement, please go to the following web site and search for the text "Electronic Navigational Chart": http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html NOAA ENC[reg] PROGRESS Since NOAA first began releasing NOAA ENCs[reg] on the Web in July of 2001, over 500,000 cells have been downloaded! At the end of May, 2003, NOAA will have 285 cells posted for download covering most of the major port areas of the United States. These are provided free of charge. As of May, 2003, NOAA ENCs[reg] are being updated for Notices to Mariners and reposted to the Web site on a monthly basis. In the next few months, NOAA plans to begin posting incremental update files rather than reposts of the entire cell. These updates are small "patch" files that are produced to meet the International Hydrographic Organization, S-57 ENC Product Specification. This means that they will be suitable for use with various electronic navigation systems that support S-57 data. [NOAA is] pleased to announce that the download site will take on a new look and feel starting in the next few weeks. The new download site will allow you to choose between downloading using the same check off list form that is currently in use, or to use a map of the U.S. that shows outlines of the NOAA ENCs[reg] and allows you to graphically select the cells that you are interested in. Either method will also allow you to view a simple thumbnail graphic of each cell to see what area it covers and get additional metadata such as what Notice to Mariners a cell is up to date through. For access to free NOAA ENCs[reg], more information about them, as well as the latest information about compatible software, free data viewers and other utilities, please visit our Web site at the address below and click on Electronic Navigational Charts. http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/ NEW CHART UPDATE WEB SITE NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has recently started a new Web based service that provides updating information for nautical charts. This service provides easy access to chart updates that have been published in United States Coast Guard (USCG) Local Notice to Mariners (LNM), National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) Notice to Mariners (NM) and Canadian Coast Guard Notice to Mariners (CNM). Chart updates can include information on aids to navigation changes, hazards to navigation or other information considered essential for safe navigation, e.g. channel conditions, bridge and cable clearances, and regulatory changes. These chart updates reflect the same information available on the NOAA Print-on-Demand paper charts, the NOAA raster chart update service, and the NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts (NOAA ENC[reg]). However, temporary changes to aids to navigation, special published announcements and other important information affecting navigational safety are not available on this web site. So while the site will be an extremely useful tool for mariners who are updating their nautical charts, it is not a complete replacement for the published Notices to Mariners. The site allows a user to find updates by chart number, geographic name or port name. The system will automatically list all updates that are applicable to the current street edition of the paper chart, with options for listing corrections for previous editions or to a specific date. You can find the Chart Update Web Site at this link, click on Chart Updates: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/