In December of last year, DestinSharks.com announced a beta test of full featured nautical charts for Google Earth. They have now announced availability of EarthNC Plus – a single CD with 677 nautical charts covering the entire US regions based on the NOAA dataset. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) releases their nautical charts in electronic form for free. The trick is in processing the data and making it available in a navigation program. EarthNC Plus charts utilize features built in to Google Earth to provide the type of effectiveness you would expect from a full-featured navigation system. For example, the charts pull in more information as you zoom in closer (depth soundings, buoy markers, underwater features, etc.). The depth markings are in full color and EarthNC takes full advantage of the rich placemarking capability of GE.
EarthNC Plus is even better in some ways than most navigation systems because Google Earth is a full featured 3D virtual globe. Especially when you consider the primary navigation software, Google Earth, is free. In some waters you won’t have an inexpensive broadband Internet connection. So, you will want to cache the imagery for the places you plan to visit – but, otherwise Google Earth works pretty well without the connection. You can also use tools to hook up your GPS and have Google Earth provide you with chart plotting capability. I plan to use EarthNC when I sail in the Virgin Islands for a week this summer (yes the coverage area includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).
According to DestinSharks: “Charts are derived from NOAA ENC and Army Corps IENC digital vector charts with significant enhancements for use with Google Earth’s powerful 3D mapping engine. EarthNC Plus is being offered at an introductory price of $49.95 which includes a 12 month chart update subscription.” If you’ve been a boater for very long, you can appreciate the value of full nautical charts for the entire US region for this kind of price. For more information, go to EarthNC.com.
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
very very nice blog.thank you for your informations…
DestinShark’s technique uses KML regions to help declutter the detail as you zoom out and bring the detail back in as you get in close. So, for example, when you get close enough you get buoys, lights, and even depth numbers.