University of New Hampshire Scholars\u27 Repository
Abstract
With increasing capabilities in technology, modern hydrographic surveys are comprised of similarly increasing amounts of data, only a minute fraction of which is currently available in the nautical charts produced by the NOAA Office of Coast Survey (OCS). Simultaneously, a tremendous amount of effort goes into the generalization and optimal cartographic representation of the hydrographic data onto raster products, from which the vector products are digitized. Preserving and maintaining a single database of high-resolution vector source data will retain— and make accessible—much more of the hydrographic data collected, alleviate the burden of generalization, and would allow for delivery of high-resolution vector products, as well as a very wide selection of raster products. From high-resolution source data, raster output could be generated at customer specifications. These “user-defined” raster products could be suitably tailored to meet anyone’s needs, regardless if they are a mariner, a scientist, a fisherman, a student, or a casual “common man” customer. The “user-defined” concept will ultimately improve our ability to meet the highly variable needs of our customers. This paper is intended as an exploratory endeavor, specifically, using the Paper Chart Editor component of CARIS HPD to create examples of the kinds of raster products one can create from high-resolution source data, how this process could optimize the current raster chart production workflow within OCS, while also providing a stronger focus on customer service. Finally, the capabilities and lessons learned from the experimentation with HPD will be applied toward the NOAA-wide implementation of Nautical Chart System II (NCSII)
