The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will soon start the five-year process of moving its paper nautical charts to electronic-only versions, beginning with chart 18665 of Lake Tahoe, California.
That chart will only be available digitally after August, the agency said.
In 2019, NOAA announced it was planning to make this paper-to-digital transition, which makes it easier for the agency to update charts and keep mariners informed with the latest on marine hazards.
“NOAA will continue to announce the cancellation of additional paper charts as the sunset plan progresses, initially based on volume of sales or downloads, and in regions with improved NOAA electronic navigational chart coverage,” according to the agency.
Mariners can make their own updated paper and PDF charts with the online NOAA Custom Chart tool. For more, visit https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/charts/noaa-enc.html.
