Summary

  • NOAA released about a thousand free chart PDFs in October 2013, initially behind a list of chart numbers; it directed visitors to an existing viewer to find the number they needed.
  • By February 2014, the agency reported nearly 2.3 million downloads in about 90 days and described a locator that let readers choose an area on a map, then a chart format.

A website full of maps had managed to need directions. On 22 October 2013, NOAA opened a trial offering about a thousand nautical charts as free, high-resolution PDFs. On the following day, its Office of Coast Survey acknowledged a small navigational difficulty at the entrance: the new site contained only a list of chart numbers.

Knowing where you wanted to sail was one thing. Knowing the filing number was another qualification the website had quietly added.

The agency’s launch account supplied a temporary route. Visitors could use its existing Online Chart Viewer to identify their chart number, then come back for the file. Integration with a new viewing service was still ahead. The charts had made it onto the Internet; the geography had yet to make it into that particular front door.

The files were worth finding

These were almost exact images of the charts traditionally produced by lithographic printing. A free PDF reader could open them. A reader planning a trip could inspect the familiar chart without first buying specialist display software for that task. The trial was scheduled to run through 22 January 2014, giving the agency time to hear responses and see whether people used it.

Delivery speed was a concrete gain. NOAA said new PDF editions were available two to eight weeks earlier than its traditional paper charts. The files received weekly updates, including critical corrections from Notices to Mariners. A chart could reach a reader before the older printing and distribution process had finished its journey.

Free electronic and raster charts were already part of NOAA’s offering. The PDF added a widely readable format to that collection. The useful novelty lived in the distance between an agency’s chart data and a person able to open the right chart.

The press was leaving; the chartmaker stayed

This experiment accompanied a much older product’s retirement. In its 22 October announcement, NOAA said government lithographic printing would end the following April. It cited falling demand for that format, growing use of digital charts and budget realities. Government printing had supplied charts to commercial sellers since 1862.

NOAA would keep making and maintaining charts. Certified print-on-demand suppliers would continue selling paper versions, while digital products travelled through the website. The fiscal 2014 annual report confirms the government’s lithographic production ended that year. The work of keeping coastlines, depths and corrections in the chart service continued through other delivery routes.

The PDF trial found an audience. On 21 February 2014, NOAA announced that the free product would become permanent, reporting nearly 2.3 million chart downloads within about 90 days of the beta release. In the same announcement it described a newly launched interactive locator. A visitor could select an area on a map of the United States, then choose a PDF, a print-on-demand purchase or an electronic chart.

That was a more hospitable question to ask at the door: where do you want to go? The October entrance had asked visitors to translate their destination into the institution’s numbering system elsewhere. The later locator brought place, chart and delivery format together. A thousand free files had become easier to approach as a service. The mapmaker had supplied directions to its maps.