NOAA's National Ocean Service provides products, tools, and services to ensure safe passage along our coastal waters.

Compass navigation icon
About NOAA Charting

Whether it's the nation's nautical charts, environmental monitoring and assessment, or providing the nation’s geodetic framework, NOAA and our partners are committed to integrating science and services to provide actionable information. The goal is to increase ocean and coastal 'intelligence' and thereby improve the ability to navigate safely and make informed choices. Good decisions today protect lives and property tomorrow.

More than $2.4 billion in annual benefits to U.S. economy

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey maintains the nation’s nautical charts and publications for U.S. coasts and the Great Lakes, covering 95,000 miles of shoreline and 3.4 million square nautical miles of waters.

More than 65,000 aerial images collected

The National Geodetic Survey collected more than 65,000 images following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017.

Saving money, increasing efficiency and safety for marine transportation

NOAA’s Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System enables mariners to safely use every inch of available channel depth, thereby increasing the amount of cargo moved per transit. PORTS has been shown to reduce maritime accidents, such as groundings, by 50% or more.

Measuring surface currents up to 200 kilometers offshore

Located near the water’s edge, high frequency radars can measure surface currents over a large region of the coastal ocean, from a few kilometers offshore up to 200 km, and can operate under any weather conditions.