Office of Coast Survey's Collection of Print on Demand Charts (POD)

NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey is responsible to build and maintain a suite of more than 1000 nautical charts that are used by commercial and recreational mariners to safely navigate the United States and the U.S. territory waters.A Nautical Chart is a graphic portrayal of the marine environment. They are used to lay out courses and navigate ships by the shortest and most economically safe route. They can also serve as base maps for resource management and shoreline development planning by state and local government.Charts depict the location of the shoreline, minimum water depths, aids to navigation, hazards to navigation, the nature and form of the coast, water depths, the general character and configuration of the sea bottom, the rise and fall of the tides, protected areas and the characteristics of the Earth's magnetism.NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, in partnership with OceanGrafix, LLC, offers mariners official nautical charts continually updated by NOAA cartographers to the latest Notice to Mariners and to all Critical Safety Information known to the Office of Coast Survey in advance of its publication in a Notice. From NOAA digital files OceanGrafix prints corrected charts, to order, for sale to mariners through the OceanGrafix retail network under the brand name Charts-on-Demand.