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NOAA Says No More Paper Maps Of US Waterways


ArtMan

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NPR's David Schaper reports on "All Things Considered"

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer print traditional lithographic charts of U.S. waters after next April. The agency will still map waterways for rocks, shipwrecks and dangers, but mariners will have to download the latest information onto their electronic navigational systems or use private on-demand printing and PDFs.

Listen to the full story: http://www.npr.org/t...oryId=240291621

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In a related note - I've begun to notice that paper maps in general (i.e. traditional highway maps & street maps) are getting hard to come by. When I travel on vacation, etc., I used to always try to pick up a street map of the area I was visiting in order to get an idea of the 'lay of the land' but in mini-marts, gas stations, etc. the pickings are getting slim. GPS units are great, but there is a lot to miss by not knowing anything about the area more than a hundred yards left or right!

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Too true. One great source of free, and usually pretty good maps are the official state highway/transportation maps issued by most if not all states.

 

When I drive into a new state I try to stop at the first Welcome Center (rest stop) I see, where you can usually find these maps. They're also available by mail in many cases, either through a web or email request, or by phone. Searching for the phrase, request missouri state transportation map, for example, brought me directly to the right web page: http://www.modot.org...ation.shtml?map

 

ArtMan

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Too true. One great source of free, and usually pretty good maps are the official state highway/transportation maps issued by most if not all states.

 

When I drive into a new state I try to stop at the first Welcome Center (rest stop) I see, where you can usually find these maps. They're also available by mail in many cases, either through a web or email request, or by phone. Searching for the phrase, request missouri state transportation map, for example, brought me directly to the right web page: http://www.modot.org...ation.shtml?map

 

ArtMan

 

..so I'm not the only one! ;) I have a few really old official highway maps (pre WWII) - no Interstates, US Highway numbers* gone for 50 years - a different world!

 

* some referenced in NGS monumentation info

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The AAA (American Automobile Association) gives out paper maps for any state, or at least they did as of a few years ago.

 

One of my new hobbies is comparing old USGS maps to the current landscape using google earth. I'll download a random map, usually from someplace remote, and then see how the landscape has changed. It's pretty interesting especially if there are old maps from 1890's to early 1900's. I like looking for old churches and cemeteries since these features are usually fixed and don't change. I found an old church the other day on a 1908 map and the church still exist today (although it looks abandoned). I also have a NGS plug-in for google earth so I can see if there are any benchmarks near by.

 

You can download maps using the map locator

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/%28ctype=areaDetails&xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&carea=$ROOT&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2%29/.do

Edited by Yeah_meoW
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