Office of Coast Survey's Collection of Print on Demand Charts (POD)

NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey is responsible to build and maintain a suite of more than 1000 nautical charts that are used by commercial and recreational mariners to safely navigate the United States and the U.S. territory waters.A Nautical Chart is a graphic portrayal of the marine environment. They are used to lay out courses and navigate ships by the shortest and most economically safe route. They can also serve as base maps for resource management and shoreline development planning by state and local government.Charts depict the location of the shoreline, minimum water depths, aids to navigation, hazards to navigation, the nature and form of the coast, water depths, the general character and configuration of the sea bottom, the rise and fall of the tides, protected areas and the characteristics of the Earth's magnetism.NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, in partnership with OceanGrafix, LLC, offers mariners official nautical charts continually updated by NOAA cartographers to the latest Notice to Mariners and to all Critical Safety Information known to the Office of Coast Survey in advance of its publication in a Notice. From NOAA digital files OceanGrafix prints corrected charts, to order, for sale to mariners through the OceanGrafix retail network under the brand name Charts-on-Demand.

These product offerings are an integral part of NOAA's long-term strategy for producing paper and electronic charts for navigation of U.S. waters. Charts are carriage requirements for commercial vessels.

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From NOAA digital files OceanGrafix prints corrected nautical charts, to order, for sale to mariners through the OceanGrafix retail network under the brand name Charts-on-Demand.Publication Date Range is 2000 through present

Print on Demand (POD) charts are each week corrected by NOAA for all critical safety items known to NOAA, published and unpublished. The "Additional Corrections Through" box in the lower left corner of each POD chart identifies the Notices to which the chart is corrected since new edition release. New editions are available as POD charts five to eight weeks in advance of the same release as the traditional NOAA chart. From NOAA digital files OceanGrafix prints corrected charts, to order, for sale to mariners through the OceanGrafix retail network under the brand name Charts-on-Demand.Each chart is published periodically as a new edition depending on several parameters such as critical corrections, changing physical conditions, up to date data availability, high vessel traffic area, and demand.

The Nautical chart features are according to the U.S. Nautical chart symbols, abbreviations and terms which are in Chart No. 1. The NOAA charts are built and maintained according to the policies and procedures documented in the two volumes of the Nautical Chart Manual. The Marine Chart Division, Quality Assurance Policy and Standards Branch (QAPSB) manages questions in reference to symbols, abbreviations, policy and procedures.

http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/chartno1.htm

POD charts are produced under the authority of the National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is the national hydrographic office for the United States of America (33USC para 883a et seq.). The data from which this POD chart was produced is certified by NOAA for navigational use. POD charts meet the requirements for the mandatory carriage of nautical charts established by the U.S. Coast Guard and published in Titles 33 and 46, Code of Federal Regulations, including the requirements for updating.OceanGrafix, LLC. warrants that the nautical charts manufactured by OceanGrafix as authorized by NOAA and NOS, pursuant to that certain Cooperative Research and Development Agreement entered into by and among OceanGrafix, NOAA, and NOS, are accurate reproductions of the nautical chart data files and updates thereto provided to OceanGrafix by NOAA and NOS. Additionally, OceanGrafix warrants that the Charts shall be free from defects in manufacturing materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from the date of shipment of the Charts from OceanGrafix to the chart agent.

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To be used for navigation and/or as per agreement with the NOAA POD chart distributor and distribution network.

The Nautical chart features are according to the U.S. Nautical chart symbols, abbreviations and terms which are in Chart No. 1. Chart No. 1 can be found at http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/chartno1.htm.The NOAA charts are built and maintained according to the policies and procedures documented in the two volumes of the Nautical Chart Manual. Questions in reference to symbols, abbreviations, policy and procedures are managed by the Marine Chart Division, Quality Assurance Policy Standard Branch (QAPSB). For a contact point visit: http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/staff/contact.htm.

The availability of digital chart products and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) has drastically changed navigation. Navigation systems using DGPS for locating a vessel's position on the Earth have put mariners in a unique predicament due to a false perception of greater positional accuracy of features portrayed on the charts. In many cases, the DGPS is more accurate than the surveying technology that was used to put the sounding and features on the nautical chart. This discrepancy is even more pronounced when chart scale is taken into consideration. On a 1:40,000 scale chart a feature could have a potential error of 40 to 80 meters (about 130-160 feet) due to scale alone. This is often the cause of the "ship on the pier" situation, where the vessel tied up at the pier appears on the navigation system to be on the pier rather than alongside.Another source of this type of discrepancy is that symbols on a chart of a given scale may be a representation for multiple real features that are too close together to be shown at chart scale. Similarly, symbols may be displaced from their original location for legibility and presentation. The NOAA Nautical Chart Manual has an extensive description of the horizontal datum.

Nautical Charts are navigational tools. Thus, depths are biased for navigation purposes. Charts use multiple vertical datums (Mean Higher High Water [MHHW]; Mean High Water [MHW]; Mean Sea Level [MSL]; Mean Low Water [MLW]; Low Water Datum [LWD]; Mean Lower Low Water [MLLW]; Gulf Coast Low Water Datum [GCLWD]). The NOAA Nautical chart manual has an extensive description of the vertical datum used. Sounding datums used in coastal areas for nautical charting are determined by local observations, ideally over a period of 19 years. The official time period over which tide observations are taken to obtain mean values for tidal datums has been standardized by NOS. The present National Tidal Epoch is from 1983-2001. There have been three epochs used previously in the past century: 1924 through 1942, 1941 through 1959, and 1960 through 1978. The individual chart title block documents the datum used for the chart.

POD charts are each week corrected by NOAA for all critical safety items known to NOAA, Published and unpublished. The "Additional Corrections Through" box in the lower left corner of each POD chart identifies the Notices to which the chart is corrected since new edition release. New editions are available as POD charts five to eight weeks in advance of the same release as the traditional NOAA chart. Updated digital chart images are transferred from NOAA to OceanGrafix each hour. NOAA applies to the chart all navigational content, and is responsible for it. OceanGrafix does not alter the digital image. OceanGrafix prints the images only when ordered by a retail agent.

It is imperative to recognize that when a symbol, abbreviation, or policy changes, it does not require that all preexisting data on the charts change. Therefore, there are inconsistencies on the charts depending on policy at the time the feature was applied or updated.