US Gov't stops printing Nautical Charts.

[enterthemadness]

Because, well, our Gov't isn't smart.

http://money.msn.com/investing/news.aspx?feed=AP&date=20131022&id=17024520

Still, NOAA sells about 60,000 of the old lithographic 4-by-3 foot maps each year, for about $20 apiece, the same price it costs to print them.

Well, charge some money and make a tiny profit.


And...

It costs NOAA about $100 million a year to survey and chart the nation's waters and it will still spend the same money, but provide the information in the less traditional way.

Sonofa...

 

[Teelie]

GPS.

Seriously though, it's not like the government is really important to this when...

Capt. Shep Smith, head of NOAA's marine chart division, said the agency will still chart the water for rocks, shipwrecks and dangers, but mariners will have to see the information using private on-demand printing, PDFs and electronic maps.

But now most people use the on-demand maps printed by private shops, which are more up-to-date and accurate, Smith said.

So it's not even just to save money but they're used more as decoration than functional anyways.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Well I know guys in the Navy and all they do is use charts and maps to plot stuff. The Quarter Masters job just got a lot easier me thinks

 

[NickNitro]

It's a dying technology like News Print. The advancement of computers and tracking make GPS on ships/aircraft's far superior and have I'm sure many other gadgets attached to them (weather patterns etc.) that a simple map can't provide.

 

[enterthemadness]

What if the computer systems go out or something? What if the GPS goes out?

What if you are in the Bermuda Triangle. Crazy stuff happens there somehow.

 

[Teelie]

That would be the "on-demand maps printed by private shops" then. GPS and other navigational tools of that kind can be spoofed or hacked too and I don't believe they are used as the only means of navigation either.