[Rhodes22-list] online charts...pt 2

[L. Sailor]

Oops...hit the wrong key before I copied the rest of the info.
   
  elle
   
   
   
   
  Move over Google Earth, this new feature from NOAA's Office of Coast Survey gets my vote for coolest armchair sailing toy. Ever. NOAA has had most of its over 1,000 U.S. nautical charts online for (free) download as both Raster Navigational Charts (RNCs) and Electronic Navigational Charts® (ENCs) for some time now - functions that remain available to any and all takers. 

What's new is this Chart Viewer option, with which you can view, online, any nautical chart NOAA publishes. More than that, you can pan across the chart and zoom out or in at will. (Speaking as a member of the reading-glasses crowd, I found the zooming in feature especially useful. The clarity of the print never suffered, and I could clearly see every dock in my local public marina.) These wonders also have the advantage of being continually updated with the very latest Notices to Mariners. They're so amazing you can almost smell the wet paper. Note: This is a great tool 'out there' if you're carrying a laptop with some form of Internet connection. The RNCs and ENCs are also wonderful if you have the software aboard to view either. However, you should still always - always - carry honest-to-God paper charts. Electronics, as we all know to our woe, have been known to fail. Paper, never.

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