Chart downloads for UK coastal waters

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ARevert

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Good evening
During my travels to date I have managed to locate free charts for the coastal waters of each country I have called on but I am still struggling to find any that cover U.K. waters. I am used to feeling my way around areas where no charts were available but as far as I can tell, the only available charts for the U.K. are those you have to pay for. Is this the case or have I simply missed the free ones ?
Many thanks
Albert
 
Evening Albert !

Great that we now have a member from Ascension Island.

Would be interested to hear about your travels. Any bloggs going ?

Only charts I ever managed to get without paying are swopsies.

Where and how did you get free charts for other countries ?

Regards,
 
Quote "Out of interest etc"

'Cos that's the way things are going - you dont pay for access to GPS, you can download US charts, tidetables, weathercharts, weatherforecasts, etc, within 2 years I reckon UK charts will be downloadable
 
Doubt very much that UK charts will be free downloads ever - UKHO has been given requirement to be profitable. Difficult if you give away your products.

Second it is already stated clearly that even with S57 compliance and standardisation that various Hydrographic Bodies will still apply royalties to their charts ... even US sites say it !!
 
Will agree to disagree, maybe I should have qualified previous post by saying I meant free for yotties and pleasureseekers.

PS welcome to arevert
 
[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for your confirmation, I will continue with my original plan in that case and carry on towards NZ

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent idea, although I'm not sure you should avoid the UK just because the charts cost money - for about GBP500, you could get a plotter with a UK cartridge, which wouldnt be too much to spend if you really wanted to go there.

Personally, I dont really care if I never see the place again, (I will have to because of SWMBO and family), but I have spent 47 years there, so have possibly had the best of it.

BTW, if it was a choice of either the UK, or carrying on to New Zealand, where the hell are you?
 
GBP500 is a lot to pay out for things I doubt I would use again but thank you anyway

Where am I ?
At the moment I'm about fifty miles off Ascension after crossing from Brazil, the coast of South America was getting a bit boring so it was time for another crossing but the decision on direction to turn is mainly cost dependant. I can justify the cost of communications but not charts for a little island
 
Something of a......

Troll.jpg



...about this one.

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as the charts have been researched, collated and produced using taxpayers' money I think I, as a taxpayer, should have access to them. That's why yank charts are free, I understand: their principle is that if it was produced using public funding it should be at the disposal of the legititmate tax paying punter.

This also includes tidal predictions!

Simon
 
[ QUOTE ]
as the charts have been researched, collated and produced using taxpayers' money I think I, as a taxpayer, should have access to them. That's why yank charts are free, I understand: their principle is that if it was produced using public funding it should be at the disposal of the legititmate tax paying punter.

This also includes tidal predictions!

Simon

[/ QUOTE ]
A tempting argument that appears to be compelling but is wrong and founded on the misconception that UKHO is simply a Government funded agency. Its not as simple as that.

Most of the Government money that goes into surveying is for miltary purposes and you won't ever see the data. Its classified and it would be inappropriate to discuss this area further here. A lot of the survey data for commercial charting is commissioned by UKHO from independant private survey companies. Some comes from RN Survey vessels. There is some overlap between the two sources, but it all has to be paid for.

If you want to pay even more taxes, then you can have access to the rest of the charting for free. However our government (at the moment) has declared that UKHO will make a profit, and they are onto a good thing as UKHO products are respected the world over. Furthermore the UKHO is one of only two or three agencies to produce world wide charts and has a much higher standard of data checking than other 'free' sources.

Write to your MP if you want, but you are writing to put up taxes!

By the way even if this is a troll, I am happy to state the argument above. Too many fellow yachtsmen have no idea what goes into their charting data.
 
That would be a strong argument if the UKHO were an efficient slimly manned organisation, and the govt knew to the nearest 5 million what money it had and spent it wisely.

The reality is rather different. The HO makes a profit because it is a monopoly and one backed up by heavyweight legal sanctions on crown copyright. Most of the data used was generated in previous centuries and the costs involved (if any) have long gone. But the costs in having a bloated organisation remain, and believe me you need to go there to see what I mean.

We yotties are something like 5 % of the HO revenue - the balance being solas vessels and the forces. Free charts to yotties woulkd make very little difference indeed to the HO and none that would be noticed to the govt.
 
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Most of the data used was generated in previous centuries and the costs involved (if any) have long gone.

[/ QUOTE ] Not true. The data (even the ocean stuff) is updated. There is a very little that is old, but check the survey sources on your charts and try and prove your point to me that most is old.
[ QUOTE ]
But the costs in having a bloated organisation remain, and believe me you need to go there to see what I mean.


[/ QUOTE ] Don't know how you can substantiate this. What do you mean by bloated? The offices produce and correlate data for the world from all over the world. I don't think anyone thinks that its a 'bloated organisation.

Have you ever been in the UKHO offices at Taunton? Would you like me to arrange a visit?
 
The thinking that says "We have invested money in this, we have to charge for it to get our money back" is out of date, and organisations that can't see it will eventually collapse from outside competition.
The trend is for all publications to become freely available on the web. Look at newspapers - I can buy a copy for 70p or read it for nothing on-line. How can the publishers afford to do that? Because of sponsorship, advertising, and a recognition that anything that encourages usage will ultimately spin off into a return for them. Remember when the BBC jeolously guarded its TV schedules, and refused to allow non-Radio Times publication? Now there are dozens of TV magazines, yet the RT keeps on going. Maps are available on-line, car manuals, domestic appliance manuals, etc.
It's called progress.

One day soon someone will start a rival to UKHO, and then they will suddenly join us in the 21st century, or more likely, go under, still pathetically waving their copyright flags.
 
[ QUOTE ]


Most of the Government money .......However our government (at the moment) has declared that UKHO will make a profit, and they are onto a good thing as UKHO products are respected the world over.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Government doesn't have any money - it is the British taxpayer's. The notion of a publicly funded body making a profit is laudable but to do that the revenue stream has to come from outside the UK otherwise it is just a further subsidy.

No dispute about the quality of the product - and I have no problem in paying a reasonable fee for something that only I and a handful of the tax paying public use - if the Government exempt me from paying for those things I don't use! Fat chance there, so back to why can't I have access to the data for free?
 
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