Free Downloadable Nautical Charts

[UFO]

I Know NOAA and a few Australian States have made available for free download their nautical charts - EG Western Australia has a download page for all their charts and you are free to download, print and even print and sell them, as long as you do not make any changes to the chart.



Anyone know of any other countries/places doing this?


Is there a website out there that lists these free charts?

[slug]

Originally Posted by UFO

I Know NOAA and a few Australian States have made available for free download their nautical charts - EG Western Australia has a download page for all their charts and you are free to download, print and even print and sell them, as long as you do not make any changes to the chart.



Anyone know of any other countries/places doing this?


Is there a website out there that lists these free charts?

Many countries copyright hydrographic data ..nothing free

[Santiano]

Originally Posted by slug

Many countries copyright hydrographic data ..nothing free

Nothing free is not true. OP listed multiple countries that make their charts available for free.

With all the pirating sites out there, you'd think a few would have something useful for actual pirates...

[Reefmagnet]

New Zealand has free charts


https://www.linz.govt.nz/sea/charts/...t-spatial-view


Edit. The OpenCPN site lists sources fro free charts
https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/info/chartsource.html

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by Santiano

Nothing free. You're a liar, and worse, likely a libertarian. I'll meet you at Miller's Crossing at dawn. Your choice of pistols or broadswords.

If he's a libertarian he's a peculiar kind of libertarian. A true libertarian does not believe in artificial business protections a/k/a copyright laws.

[Santiano]

You've got me there. I just caught a whiff of the auld "I worked hard to pay for my double platinum navionics package, and so should you," accompanied by some shaking of withered fists.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by Santiano

You've got me there. I just caught a whiff of the auld "I worked hard to pay for my double platinum navionics package, and so should you," accompanied by some shaking of withered fists.

Not to get too far afield from the topic but since it's kind of related.

Copyright laws originally were meant to help the inventors get a leg up by making sure their inventions lead to at least a few years where they can cover their costs, time, effort, etc. As I recall from my patents and copyrights class initial protections were of relatively short duration - 7 to 11 years. Which considering the end of 18th century modes of transportation and the time it would take to disseminate information in already vast country was quite reasonable.

Never were these laws meant to stifle competition or innovation for generations to come, i.e. writer's lifetime plus or some such. Thanks to lobbying this temporary leg up became a permanent prohibition which is now clearly against the general public good. As in encouraging big pharma to play fast and loose with people's health and lives just because they are protected by these anti-free market laws.

Bring back the old timeframes for protections and watch our economy bloom based on real production instead of relying on crutches of protectionism and lobbying.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

New Zealand has free charts


https://www.linz.govt.nz/sea/charts/...t-spatial-view


Edit. The OpenCPN site lists sources fro free charts
https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/info/chartsource.html

Thanks Reefmagnet.


Looks like there is not a huge amount of countries doing this

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Not to get too far afield from the topic but since it's kind of related.

Copyright laws originally were meant to help the inventors get a leg up by making sure their inventions lead to at least a few years where they can cover their costs, time, effort, etc. As I recall from my patents and copyrights class initial protections were of relatively short duration - 7 to 11 years. Which considering the end of 18th century modes of transportation and the time it would take to disseminate information in already vast country was quite reasonable.

Never were these laws meant to stifle competition or innovation for generations to come, i.e. writer's lifetime plus or some such. Thanks to lobbying this temporary leg up became a permanent prohibition which is now clearly against the general public good. As in encouraging big pharma to play fast and loose with people's health and lives just because they are protected by these anti-free market laws.

Bring back the old timeframes for protections and watch our economy bloom based on real production instead of relying on crutches of protectionism and lobbying.

Hear, hear

[CaptTom]

A quick search for "open source nautical chart data" got me a few interesting hits. I think there are others I've heard of, too:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/opennautical/
OpenNauticalChart
https://www.hydro-international.com/...nautical-chart

Now, going back to the more interesting, off-topic theme...

With all the problems in copyright/patent law, I think by far the worst is the way patents are handed out like candy for the most minor of tweaks.

Case in point, Apple (or somebody) patented having rounded corners on a cell phone. It really is that bad. All the big cell phone manufacturers hold thousands of these petty patents. Swapping licenses to allow each other to make a workable device is a huge undertaking. And a huge barrier to any new competitor trying to enter that market.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by slug

Many countries copyright hydrographic data ..nothing free

Yep, you or in some cases your relatives/ancestors pay for them perform the surveys, then you have pay again to access the data.

It's like buying fuel in the UK where you pay tax on the tax.

[norbu09]

There is also a list on the OpenCPN site with links to free charts.

https://www.opencpn.org/OpenCPN/info/chartsource.html

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Santiano

You've got me there. I just caught a whiff of the auld "I worked hard to pay for my double platinum navionics package, and so should you," accompanied by some shaking of withered fists.

I did and it cost me a fortune

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

It's like buying fuel in the UK where you pay tax on the tax.

From income that has been taxed

[George DuBose]

As far as I know, data for all charts are collected by government employees.

Paid for by taxpayers.

Why should we have to pay twice for this data, once to have it collected and again when we want to use what we already paid for.

Double taxation?

[MountainKing]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

As far as I know, data for all charts are collected by government employees.

Paid for by taxpayers.

Why should we have to pay twice for this data, once to have it collected and again when we want to use what we already paid for.

Double taxation?

If they're using the money from selling the charts to fund the department, then you're only paying for it once. Instead of the employee's income coming from the general tax fund and everyone in the country paying for something that the vast majority of them will never use. It's actually a fairer way of paying for having the work done, having the people who will actually be using them pay for them instead of shifting the burden to all taxpayers.

Personally, I'd prefer getting the charts for free, but I also enjoy playing devil's advocate.