We are on the verge of acquiring a significant new source of data to improve NOAA nautical charts, thanks to an

enthusiastic industry and mariners equipped with new technology. Rose Point Navigation Systems is working with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and Coast Survey and others who are collaborating on an international effort to maintain crowdsourced bathymetry.

In a beta test released on May 13, 2016, Rose Point has added a new feature to Coastal Explorer that gives users an option to send anonymous GPS position and soundings data to a new international database managed by NCEI. After getting permission from users, Rose Point systems will generate data log files of positions, depths, and time, and automatically transmit the files to the data center, where Coast Survey can pull the data to compare it to nautical charts. The new sources of information will alert Coast Survey cartographers to areas where shoaling and other changes to the seafloor have made the chart inaccurate.

It is a major challenge – some might say an impossibility – to keep all thousand U.S. nautical charts up to date. But exactly how out of date is the chart data? Chart users will get a better idea now that Coast Survey is gradually rolling out a new chart feature called the zone of confidence, or “ZOC” box. It will replace the source diagram that is currently on large-scale charts. Source diagrams, and now the improved ZOC, help mariners assess hydrographic survey data and the associated level of risk to navigate in a particular area.

The first charts to show the new ZOC box are 18622, 18682, 18754, and 11328. They were released on April 7.

Charts are packed with symbols and abbreviations, some that might be unfamiliar to you. U.S. Chart No. 1 lists all of the symbols used on NOAA nautical charts, but sometimes chart users need a deeper understanding.

Coast Survey is now providing additional information about complex or particularly confusing chart symbols to augment what is available in U.S. Chart No. 1. The first three tip sheets help explain fish havens, anchorages and harbors of refuge, and virtual AIS aids to navigation.