Cooperative Charting

• What is Cooperative Charting?
• Upcoming Events
• Links to Useful Sites
• Files to Download

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What is USPSŪ Cooperative Charting?

"Cooperative Charting" refers to an agreement between the United States Power Squadrons (USPS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agreement was first executed in 1963 and revised in January 1971 and again in 1983. The current agreement is "...to produce accurate and up-to-date nautical and aeronautical charts and related products and to preserve geodetic control stations in the National Geodetic Reference System (NGRS) through the use of well-trained volunteer observers."

NOAA was established in October of 1970 as part of the Department of Commerce. It is charged with providing weather forecasts, charting our coastal and estuarine waterways, producing aeronautical charts and supporting our marine fisheries industry. As part of these responsibilities, they produce and maintain over 970 nautical charts and 9 Coast Pilots for navigating our coastal waters and Great Lakes. The agency produces over 8,000 aeronautical charts and has installed and maintains over 750,000 geodetic control marks that provide the base geographic framework for mapping and charting, boundaries and property lines, and setting precise positions of space craft and satellites.

Maintaining and up-grading this information against the changes made by nature and mankind is truly a monumental task.  Changes occur so frequently that no amount of tax supported effort would be adequate to supply the corrections necessary to keep these documents current.  As participants in the Cooperative Charting Program, USPS members observe these changes and submit corrections to NOAA, thereby saving the government (and tax payers) millions of dollars.  In fact, Cooperative Charting has become the most effective user-participation program in all of the Federal services.

Upcoming Events

• September 19-21, 2008: Nautical Charting Trip to Fulton, TX
  We will be updating the charts in the Aransas Pass - Port Aransas - Rockport - Fulton area with the Coastal Bend and San Antonio Squadrons
  Accommodations at Inn at Fulton Harbor
  Flyer with info
  This will be an Adopt-a-Chart trip.

Cooperative Charting Links

• The home page for the USPS Co-op Charting Committee.  Check here for the latest news and links to data entry requirements and forms.

NOAA Sites

• CCweb - The site for USPS members to enter nautical chart updates.

   

• NGS - The home site for the National Geodetic Survey. At this site, you can search the NGS benchmark database directly and get the data sheets for a two-mile radius around a given latitude/longitude, or in a rectangular area within designated latitudes and longitudes up to five degrees apart. It will download up to 100 points. You can also download individual data sheets by name or number. The software for extracting and printing data sheets is also available for downloading here, as are programs for converting between coordinate systems and other useful software tools.

  There is an interactive map that allows you to view an area and retrieve data sheets.

  Also, a quad name search that allows you to input a quad name and retrieve data sheets.

   

• Mark recovery data entry can now be done directly on the NGS website.

   

• USGS - The US Geologic Survey web site. Information about topographic maps, etc. They have a visitor center in Reston, VA (near Washington, DC) that has all the topo and geologic maps. And I mean ALL. Highly recommended if you are in the area. It's right off the road to Dulles Airport from DC.

   

• Topographic Map Symbols - Explanations of the stuff on topo maps. This is an online version of a free booklet available at Mapsco.

   

• GIS Data Depot - A site to download scanned images of quad maps. Caution! These are BIG files! They also have 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 maps.  It is a pay service.

   

• Quad Map Finder - This site has a search tool and a clickable map to locate quad maps anywhere in the country.   Maps can be ordered as paper maps or downloaded as scanned images of the maps.

   

• Eagle Mountain Lake Water Level Data - From the USGS site that provides info about Texas lake and river levels.

   

• NOS - The National Ocean Service web site. These are the folks that handle nautical charts, Coast Pilots, etc.

   

   

Other Sites

• TEC - The home site for the Corps of Engineers Topographic Engineering Center. This site has a downloadable program called CORPSCON, a Windows-based program which converts between the various coordinate systems (Lat/Lon, UTM, SPC) and datums (NAD 27, NAD 83).

   

• Coordinate Systems - This is a site that gives an overview of coordinate systems, map projections, datums, etc.

   

• UT Map Collection - A good source for atlas-type maps.

   

• TerraServer - A huge database containing aerial and satellite photos. Detailed enough to pick out your house! Lots of fun.

   

• Google Maps - Similar to Terraserver, but can overlay street data.

   

• Mapsco - Source for topographic maps, county maps, nautical charts, etc. Purchase stuff online or visit their store on Camp Bowie Blvd.

   

• Maptech - USGS topographic maps on CD-ROM are available here. Also has free electronic nautical charts and viewing software.

   

• DeLorme - Electronic street atlas, topographic maps, etc.

   

• Boulter's Geocaching - A neat website for locating a lat/lon on various mapping websites. Also has links to geocaching websites, which is a fun adventure game where treasures of various types are hidden around cities and you use your GPS skills to find them.

   

• Benchmark Hunting on Geocaching.com - This web site has lots of good info on benchmarking. Some of these people are as serious as USPS about finding and reporting marks.  They keep a log of the benchmarks they have found, some with photos.  If you can't find a mark, check here.

   

• Google Earth - An absolutely amazing time waster.  It puts Google maps right on your computer, complete with 3-D satellite imagery.  Detail all the way down to your car!  You can do things like a 3-D fly over of the Grand Canyon.  For mark hunting, it indicates the lat/lon on the screen and you can type in the location and place a pushpin.  You can see right where the marks are! Best of all, it's free. The subscription upgrade will take a list of marks.

Files You Might Find Useful

How to Add Benchmarks to a Map Program
(for use in printing maps and using laptop computers)

• The benchmark file is simply modified from the text file created from the listing of marks obtained from the NGS website.  When you get a list of marks using one of the search options, there is the option of saving the list as a text file.  You can modify this file and import it into a mapping program. Save the file to your computer, doctor it up a bit, then use the "Import Lat/Lon File" menu selection in Street Atlas. This puts the marks right on the map. Especially useful if you have a your GPS connected to a laptop computer. Those pesky benchmarks won't have a chance. This file is an Excel worksheet that has a sample.  The exact formula for creating a file that is readable by other mapping programs may differ.  Check the program's help file for the required format for importing lists.
  Here's another sample file.