Free Charts Published on the Internet

[richardandtracy]

Does any country, other than the US, publish any charts for free on the internet?

The US also posts all it's coastal pilots - fantastic for cheaply planning those post retirement journies to Alaska! - and many charts. See them on http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov

Are there any european charts/ pilots available anywhere?

Regards

Richard

 

[Viking]

In the UK I believe all charts are subject to copyright and you can not, under law photocopy charts or even parts of charts without permission and payment of a fee.

 

[snowleopard]

i hate to admit it but...

the US has the best of it: their charts are not copyright so you can copy and distribute ad lib.

 

[seahorse]

I understand that there is a www.neo-modus.com/ which connects to"hubs" which are some where (who knows). I understand that U can download software 2 access these "hubs" which have all sorts of stuff on them, some it seems by request!

 

[colvic]

I have an ARCS chart plotter, with a Skipper licence, and paid about £130 per folio of electronic charts and though I can print off the chart in screen size pieces or a whole chart to stick together I have to sign a disclaimer that I won't use them for navigation.

How stupid can things get?


Phil

 

[duncan]

very stupid....really

My electronic charts are Navionics via a "Lowrance memory card".
My Lowrance unit permits me to record to the card etc (including sonar and navigation combined but enough of that...) the only thing I can't do is actually read the map data onto my PC at home to create the waypoints, routes etc direct. I can emulate my Lowrance unit and read the nav data etc I have recorded/saved to card but not actually access the underlying map.
Solution is going to have to be a spare power cable at home and a battery but I am not happy.
The really daft thing is that I can look at sonar recordings in glorious full colour at home, and by putting the mouse/cursor on an interesting feature get told the exact positional data - which I then have to translate to a paper map to see 'sort of where' it was. I can save it as an electronic waypoint to download back to the unit and then look but I can't close the loop! Reason given is copy protection issues of course....

 

[webcraft]

I got threatened in a heavy-handed and totally humourless manner by the UKHO for reproducing a small section of an out-of-date chart I own and using the image for decorative purposes on a website . . . . the image in question was about 200x100 pixels, faded to a watermark and covered in text, but they wanted several hundred pounds in licence fees.

I got a free US chart and modified colour-wise it to look like a UK chart.

I should imagine that you could expect at least ten years at Her Majesty's pleasure for reproducing a whole Admiralty chart.

Of course, we are also the only country on the planet where the celestial mechanics of the tides are copyright . . . the UKHO will be copyrighting the use of any compass course you may wish to sail next, look out everyone.

<font color=blue>Nick</font color=blue>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>

</A>

 

[PeterGibbs]

Re: USA Freedom of Information Act

Navigational information falls under the USA Freedom of Information Act and so is available / distributable without practical limit. So far no country I know has followed in their footsteps. Any guesses when bureacracy in the EU might relinquish its grip in this area? That's right - the sun will go supernova first...


PWG

 

[kdf]

It gets even funnier - Here in Ireland the tides are owned by the UKHO. We can't reproduce any tidal data without paying £'s to the UK government for it.

 

[Viking]

So Britannia still rules the waves!

 

[richardandtracy]

RE: [url]www.neo-modus.comon[/url] the Internet

Er, um.

Looks dodgy. I don't think I like my computer being opened to anybody who cares to look. Thanks for the suggestion but I'm not taking it up.

Regards

Richard

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

If this wasn't so ridiculous and annoying it would be funny. I have a full set of New Zealand charts which I downloaded from a NZ government site, they work great with ozi-explorer.

One day, one day......

ftp://ftp.linz.govt.nz/pub/NTHA/chart_images/



Julian

http://www.ukstaffords.com

 

[pjohnst]

Do you know if there is a similar web site for Australia?

 

[jfkal]

Just the paper waves and tides. Trying to rule the dunes soon I guess.

 

[Guest]

I do not advocate breaking copyright ....

So a look at GPS navigator may help .......

Post message: gps-navigator@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: gps-navigator-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: gps-navigator-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: gps-navigator-owner@yahoogroups.com

a site that is dedicated to improve GPS and PC navigation issues..... someone may be able to help.....

Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Sorry, I found this by accident, but if you find one????



Julian

http://www.ukstaffords.com

 

[richardandtracy]

NZ Charts

These Tiff's are huge. Fair crippled my PC opening one.

Thanks for letting us into this secret.

Regards

Richard.

 

[tadpole]

So are Met Office charts but you can find them all over the web

 

[Guest]

Tiff etc.

Open into graphics package and convert to more useable form ... such as

jpg



Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[mike_kolling]

Yeah but in the readme for these charts it says....
"They are up to date for NM to week 8/01.They are not to be used for navigation, "