The UKHO intends to withdraw from paper chart production by 2026 | Hacker News Reader

The UKHO intends to withdraw from paper chart production by 2026

admiralty.co.uk

47 pointsairbreather25 comments

The professional side has just about migrated to ECDIS. [1] Certified electronic charts with extra screens and independent power backups to make it as safe as regular paper charts in emergencies.

Almost all new ships on international voyages are required to have ECDIS and year by year it covers more older vessels.

What is left is commercial smaller vessels which tend to have a set of certified paper charts over the area they operate rolled up in a corner of the bridge and then use a unclassified electronic system for day to day operations.

Then we have the boating/cruising people, they have been electronic forever. People do not care enough about backups but it is what it is. Personally I run a large power bank and charts on my phone allowing me to navigate for days in case the boat's systems die.

All in all, the market for paper charts have become increasingly niche over the years.

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Chart_Display_and...

Yep. NOAA announced in 2019 that their paper charts would be phased out by 2025, in favor of electronic charts.

https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/charts/future-noaa-chart...

Are certified electronic charts hardened against EMPs?

You will not get insurance to operate your ship in a warzone either way. That was the problem with for example the Ukrainian grain export.

So on that question, no, not more than any other system on board. A hardened navigation system does not help if your common rail injection system is fried.

Is anything about the ship hardened against EMPs?

Sails are pretty good about that :-D

Good point.

My first thought was to scramble to see if Canada had any plans to stop printing the Canadian National Topographic System map series (not nautical maps, but topographic maps that cover the entire landmass of Canada).

For wilderness canoeists, topographic maps are indispensable, and not replaceable by electronic systems. There are no electrical outlets in the wilderness, lugging batteries across 3km portages isn't an option, and canoe trips can easily last two or three weeks.

Fortunately, they don't currently have plans to stop. However, the Canadian government has recently added a list of Certified Map Printers in addition to the older network of Map Dealers who carry the entire series of thousands of maps (but frequently run out of the map you're looking for). Presumably, Certified Map Printers will print maps on demand. Sounds great!

Incidentally, you can also download Canadian topographic maps for free, and print them out yourself. But going into the wilderness with maps that aren't waterproof would be tantamount to suicide.

I wonder if the UKHO has made similar provisions to refer customers to print shops that have the equipment to print waterproof charts on demand.

> But going into the wilderness with maps that aren't waterproof would be tantamount to suicide.

Couldn't you laminate the maps yourself, when you're already going through the trouble to print your own?

Or use a ziploc bag. Works fine.

Sure, you could also do it that way. I just based my suggestion off the following passage from the original comment above:

> For wilderness canoeists

In that case I would still suggest going with the laminated maps over the ziploc bag since once moisture gets into the bag containing paper maps you've already started them on the road to colors smearing, mold, etc.

Zip-lock bags (even the heavy-duty zip-lock map bags) don't cut it. If you get even a trace of moisture or condensation in the bag, it evaporates and re-condenses causing a disproportionate amounts of smearing.

The problem I foresee with self-laminated sheets is that the original maps are about 24"x29", and when you cut them into printable 8 1/2" x 11" sheets you need to account for non-printing margins and (sensibly) provide some overlap between adjacent pages. So somewhere between 9 and 16 pages per top map (depending on whether you're blessed with borderless printing). It's quite an ordeal to print them yourself. Even more so if you have to laminate each sheet. On a typical trip, you'll use 2 or 3 maps (48 pages). On long trips much more. Workable, but a real hassle. It's certainly going to be a pile, compared to

You could be selective about which pages you print, I suppose, but I find it comforting to have enough surplus map to know what your escape points would be, should you be faced with an emergency.

God bless Her Majesty's network of Certified Map Printers.

The issue isn't the printing of the physical chart itself it's the compilation of data to create a readable chart that complies with the international cartographic standard.

Most UKHO charts are currently printed at a distributor location on giant inkjet printers. Incidentally the charts are only water resistant not waterproof

Having come back to sailing/cruising after many years I was surprised at the level of navigational knowledge of the typical boater. In the old days, I had my charts, my hand-held compass, binoculars, dividers, etc. Now people go out with their smartphone and end up hitting the wrong side of a marker. Course, there seems to be less drinking and boating these days so that's a plus.

For those interested there are a lot of free options for charts. One is OpenCPN [0] which provides an interface to charting and all your electronics (e.g. AIS, GPS, radar). There are free raster & vector charts available worldwide (e.g. NOAA) which can be downloaded onto your PC or Raspberry PI.

[0] https://www.opencpn.org/

If you have source on free charts I’m all ears. Except for the US, most charts are paid. There are a few non-legal sources like CM93.

As a cruiser who tried to make do as cheap as possible I gave up and bought a subscription for Navionics. There was very little choice in truly free charts.

Free charts from NOAA are only US waters. Few other countries provide their charts for free.

Previously one had to pay for paper charts, now one pays for digital charts.

If, like me, you’ve not heard of UKHO before — https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Hydrographic_...

I thought it would be the Home Office. This makes more sense.

I always said I wouldn't transition to electronic charts until I can get a high resolution e-paper like device which can show the chart at a reasonable size with reasonable detail and I can leave it on the chart table or take it outside. I haven't looked lately so I don't really know if a large tablet would do it for me. The problem I've always found with electronic charts is that you get an overview or detail and the middle ground is vague. I don't like not having the detail on the overview.

tbh I'm getting to be a bit of a dinosaur; I don't really sail much out of my home area (~30 mile radius) which I already know quite well, and even then I already have paper charts covering several hundred miles around. I don't have many admiralty charts (Imray charts are printed on waterproof paper so have been more useful) and as they say, the rocks don't change much.

A standard feature on electronic charts nowadays is "declutter"; you can configure what level of detail is shown at each zoom level.

Ive experienced similar with some local national parks. They now expect people to rely on digital navigation rather than paper, so only produce maps suitable for driving from landmark to landmark. Though I don't personally enjoy navigation by electronic device, having a hard copy backup is critical and getting harder to have.

Seems like a fair amount of skill would be needed to actually use a map reliably in a park, especially for hikers. Do people still know how to use them? I think I'd probably get lost .

However much skill it may or may not require pales in comparison to recharging a phone rocks and sticks. Papers maps and a small compass are cheap, light weight insurance.

In theory absolutely, in practice people still might not be using them or learning how to use them effectively. Average hikers seem to not really be experts and most people who aren't avid outdoorsy types aren't learning this stuff for any other reason.

There's a lot of stuff you just don't expect to ever need if you're used to life on the grid.

Plans to withdraw the UKHO’s portfolio of ADMIRALTY Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and Thematic Charts is in response to more marine, naval and leisure users primarily using digital products and services for navigation.

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