NOAA hosts third annual workshop on nautical chart adequacy

This week, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey hosted its third annual workshop on nautical chart adequacy. Twelve students participated in the training and learned techniques to evaluate the suitability of nautical chart products using chart quality and publicly available information. This year’s workshop emphasized cartography and the ability to transfer NOAA procedures to the students’ charting products. The workshop provided a theoretical background on:

  • Chart production at NOAA
  • Review of NOAA charted symbols and abbreviations
  • Review of automatic identification systems (AIS) and satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB)
  • Overview of the chart adequacy procedure


Nautical Chart Adequacy Workshop 2017 participants and instructors.
Nautical Chart Adequacy Workshop 2017 participants, representing 12 countries, and their instructors.In addition, participants had a hands on experience (in the ArcGIS environment) on:

  • Land/water separation using satellite imagery
  • Identifying navigationally significant areas based on AIS
  • Deriving near-shore bathymetry using SDB
  • Conducting chart adequacy evaluation

Participants came from Egypt, Israel, Japan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, and Thailand. The workshop followed NOAA’s open house on nautical cartography on July 7, an event held in conjunction with the 28th annual International Cartographic Conference 2017 (ICC) in Washington, D.C.

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Workshop participants attend a session in Coast Survey’s computer lab.

Next year’s nautical chart adequacy workshop is scheduled for July 2018. Individuals interested in attending should be nominated by their home hydrographic office, have previous experience in ocean bathymetry (minimum two years in hydrography or cartography), be proficient in the English language, and have future opportunities to work on bathymetric projects. Travel costs for the selected candidates will be covered by the GEBCO.

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