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US to stop printing nautical charts
Boston.com ^ | 10/22/13 | SETH BORENSTEIN

Posted on 10/23/2013 5:09:58 AM PDT by Rebelbase

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is going into uncharted waters, deep-sixing the giant paper nautical charts that it has been printing for mariners for more than 150 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday that to save money, the government will stop turning out the traditional brownish, heavy paper maps after mid-April.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
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No problemo. Satellites and electronic devices will always be there, right?
1 posted on 10/23/2013 5:09:58 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Travis McGee

Chart ping.


2 posted on 10/23/2013 5:10:22 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Tagline: (optional, printed after your name on post))
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To: Rebelbase

One of the few ACTUAL USEFUL PRODUCTS produced by the government, and they cut it.


3 posted on 10/23/2013 5:12:21 AM PDT by Mr. K (Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics, and then Democrat Talking Points.)
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To: Mr. K

Wanna bet USGS topo maps are next?


4 posted on 10/23/2013 5:13:20 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Tagline: (optional, printed after your name on post))
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To: Rebelbase

Do they charge anything for the charts? If they don’t, then maybe they should. If they do, and still lose money, then some private business should step in...


5 posted on 10/23/2013 5:14:00 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)
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To: Mr. K

A private entity will start doing it and make money in the process - happens all the time ...


6 posted on 10/23/2013 5:15:04 AM PDT by Ken522
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To: Mr. K

When the lights go out........... Sextant/protractor/compass. Just sayin’.


7 posted on 10/23/2013 5:16:06 AM PDT by rktman (Inergalactic background checks? King hussein you're first up.)
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To: Ken522

Yellowpages could save a LOT of money (and trees) if they stopped printing those monstrous sized phone books. Everybody uses their cell phones or computers to look up phone numbers and addresses now. I guess maybe its about the ad revenue that keeps them going...


8 posted on 10/23/2013 5:19:01 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Rebelbase

Stupid! I always have paper charts as a backup.


9 posted on 10/23/2013 5:19:53 AM PDT by dinodino
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To: Rebelbase

Save your old charts they are going to be worth a lot of money.


10 posted on 10/23/2013 5:21:51 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Rebelbase
From the article:

Nowadays, most people instead use the on-demand maps printed by private shops, which are more up-to-date and accurate, Smith said.

Fedgov ought to be embarrassed, but it isn't.

11 posted on 10/23/2013 5:24:10 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: jsanders2001
In all the years I've received a phone book, I've used one pizza coupon .. one time ...

THAT paid for 50 years' worth of dead trees ?

12 posted on 10/23/2013 5:25:07 AM PDT by knarf (`)
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To: jsanders2001
Yellowpages could save a LOT of money (and trees) if they stopped printing those monstrous sized phone books. Everybody uses their cell phones or computers to look up phone numbers and addresses now. I guess maybe its about the ad revenue that keeps them going...

The Yellow Pages had an extortion racket before computers were ubiquitous. The phone company had a monopoly and weilded it to extort unconscionable rates on businesses, where exclusion for many businesses meant failure. A small tile company might have to pay out $6000 for a small one liner printed on newspaper stock. The end of the Yellow Pages ability to extort such payments is a Godsend to businesses, especially small businesses.

13 posted on 10/23/2013 5:32:15 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Rebelbase

This is reasonable.

The feds still do “charting”, just don’t provide the paper. Private enterprise comes into play to use the federales chart data, to provide whatever the public wants to pay for: table apps, paper, books, etc.

Similar is occurring in aviation. I no longer buy the paper charts for flying... an ipad app is all I need, and is “legal” to fulfill chart access regs. An older paper version as backup would suffice in a pinch.

Aviation charts were getting VERY expensive, what with being current you had to purchase a new set every few months (depended on the type of chart... some were every 56 days).


14 posted on 10/23/2013 5:32:59 AM PDT by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is liberty)
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To: Rebelbase

They’re still going to offer print on demand charts and PDF charts.


15 posted on 10/23/2013 5:34:18 AM PDT by CJinVA
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To: Rebelbase
No problemo. Satellites and electronic devices will always be there, right?

Even if they are there, all GPS satellites & electronic navigation aids tell you is WHERE you are, not WHAT ELSE is where you are, i.e., reef, shoals, rocks, channels, wrecks, navigation buoys, etc. Charts of some type, either paper or electronic, are essential.

Once the data is collected to make an electronic chart, essentially all that you have to do is hit the PRINT button. It is the collection of the data that is complex and expensive. Printing that data on paper is relatively simple. The cost of that printing & subsequent distribution can be passed directly to the purchaser.

Of course, turning the whole process over to one or more private companies, say Garmin or Jeppesen (for Air Navigation Charts), might be the best thing to do. Or we could buy them from the British Admiralty... or the Chinese.

However, there is one problem left. Once the business of charting is privatized and NOAA shut down, what wll they do with NOAAs SWAT teams and their share of the 1.6 billion rounds of ammo?

16 posted on 10/23/2013 5:36:23 AM PDT by BwanaNdege (Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. J.F. Kennedy)
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To: rktman

Not to mention dead reckoning !


17 posted on 10/23/2013 5:40:00 AM PDT by The Klingon
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To: jsanders2001

That and the cost of producing the books is rolled into the rate base.


18 posted on 10/23/2013 5:40:09 AM PDT by 31R1O
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To: central_va
Save your old charts they are going to be worth a lot of money.

Perhaps as a historical artifact. Underwater topography changes all the time. Tides, currents, storms, and other factors change what the bottom looks like. Therefore, those old charts have limited usefulness. Might be better than nothing if your electronics fail.

19 posted on 10/23/2013 6:01:34 AM PDT by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
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To: Mr. K

How does this save money. They don’t give away these charts for free.


20 posted on 10/23/2013 6:15:10 AM PDT by Venturer (Keep Obama and you aint seen nothing yet.)
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