EarthNC - Nautical Data for a Digital World

NOAA Chart Notices

EarthNC — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:31:16 +0000

Quickly find pending NOAA nautical chart changes with the EarthNC NOAA Chart Notices layer. Chart notices include additions, deletions, and changes to NOAA Raster Charts (RNC) since the previous print edition and are organized by Chart Number. The EarthNC Chart Notices layer is updated nightly to reflect the most recent information available from NOAA for the entire Raster Chart catalog.
While NOAA Notices do include changes from Local Notices to Mariners, they are not a substitution for LNMs and should not be treated as an official source for charting and should be used in accordance with the NOAA disclaimer found in the Google Earth file.

Using the Chart Notice Layer

Download the EarthNC Chart Notice Index Map into Google Earth
Find the Chart Desired (by default only harbor and approach chart scales are displayed, enable other scales by checking its visibility box in the Google Earth ‘Places’ menu)
Click on the () icon to see the total number of notices for this chart and to see the ‘View’ links
Click on the ‘Click to View Chart Notices’ link in the chart pop-up window. This will load notices for the selected chart into Google Earth. If saved to ‘My Places’ this overlay will automatically refresh daily. If you need to use the notices without an internet connection, use the ‘download’ link instead - but this link will not refresh.

Legend and Usage Notes
Notices have four principle types:
Change (non-position) - Changes in an object’s label, note, etc… but not to its position

Move - The charted object has moved from a previous location to the one at the location of the chart notice

Addition - A new object that was not previously in the chart

Deletion - The given object has been removed from the chart

2009 ABWA Bowlegs Poker Run

EarthNC — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:31:36 +0000

As part of our new ‘Event Map’ capability, we’ve posted an interactive map for the 2009 ABWA Billy Bowlegs Poker Run to be held May 16th in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The Bowlegs Poker Run is a fun run suitable for any power boat comfortable on coastal, inshore waters.

View the Map

Do you have a boating event you’d like to promote? Contact Us for information on how to get your own featured map.

Tahina Sets Sail with EarthNC Onboard

EarthNC — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:38:38 +0000

Long time EarthNC advocate Frank Taylor sets sail this summer with his wife Karen on a 5 year circumnavigation. As the author for the Google Earth Blog, Frank is of course planning to both use Google Earth extensively during his trip, but also share his trip including maps, photos, videos, and more at his new blog www.TahinaExpedition.com.

EarthNC will be providing US and Bahamas charts for his trip as well as our Premium Weather Service of global ocean weather maps and forecasts for Google Earth. We’ll also be helping Frank with the maps on his blog and hope to meet up with him and Karen during their trip.

Here’s Frank’s 1st draft of the circumnavigation plan:

USS Oriskany and Other 3D Ocean Models

EarthNC — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:27:51 +0000

Quickly following up on their new 3D Ocean Floor in Google Earth 5.0, Google has been populating the ocean with a unique set of 3D models of famous shipwrecks, reefs, and other objects. To tour these models, you can open the 3D Ocean Models Tour.

Near and dear to EarthNC’s heart is the included model for the USS Oriskany Aircraft Carrier that was sunk off the coast of Northwest Florida in May of 2006. We watched the sinking 1st hand from our 28′ Regal cruiser 27 miles offshore from our home port of Fort Walton Beach Florida. Our coverage of the sinking was the first major story of our new boating blog DestinSharks.com and eventually led to the founding of EarthNC two years ago to market Nautical Products for Google Earth.

To commemorate the new 3D Oriskany model, we’ve published our own special Sinking of the USS Oriskany KML file for Google Earth. Our KML includes the embedded video of the sinking, the ‘official’ location of the Oriskany as provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and our boat’s GPS track while filming.

If you plan to visit the USS Oriskany by boat, we recommend you not use the 3D model location as it appears to be off by nearly a mile from the published location. The model is quite realistic, but has a couple of minor errors. The hangar elevators where removed prior to sinking and the large radar dome on the aft island superstructure floated free during the sinking.

EarthNC Bahamas Charts for Google Earth

EarthNC — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:11:20 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the release of our new EarthNC Bahamas Charts for Google Earth! Our first release includes over 100 charts for the Abacos, Berry, Bimini, Grand Bahama, and New Providence Islands. Chart data is provided by Wavey Line Publishing.

Our Northwest Bahamas Chart Package Includes:

Over 100 Charts for the Abacos, Berry, Bimini, Grand Bahama, and New Providence Islands
A full Bahamas 3D Planning Chart
Hundreds of Recommended Routes, Waypoints, and Marinas
12 Month Access to Premium Ocean Weather Forecasts for Google Earth
EarthNC Online links to Bahamas High-Resolution Aerial Photosgraphs from Marinas.com
EarthNC’s Online Nautical Library of Google Earth content
Fully compatible with EarthNC Plus and Raster US NOAA Charts

Add GPS Support with our Chart/GPS Bundle

GooPs Pro GPS to Google Earth Software
US Globalsat Waterproof USB GPS with 24 Channel WAAS Support

We will be releasing additional regions for the Central Bahamas and Turks & Caicos later this year.

EarthNC Bahamas is PC/Mac Compatible and works with Google Earth versions 4.2 and higher.

Order EarthNC Bahamas Charts

EarthNC Northwest Bahamas Chart DVD	$79.95 + $6.00s/h
EarthNC Northwest Bahamas Chart/GPS Bundle Includes Chart DVD, USB GPS, GooPs Pro GPS to Google Earth Software	$149.95 + $10.00s/h

EarthNC Plus Patch for Google Earth 5 (Ocean)

EarthNC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Google Earth 5 requires a minor patch for those still using EarthNC Plus prior to version 2.10

You can verify your EarthNC Plus version by opening your EarthNC Plus Users Manual.

The patch is automatically applied with the v2.10 chart updates, but if you’d rather just update the affected file without updating charts, you can download the following fixes. After downloading, extract the files into your C:/Program Files/EarthNC/EarthNC Plus/charts folder or /Applications/EarthNC Plus/charts folder and replace the existing files.

Version 2.0 - 2.9 Patch for Win/Mac

V2_GE5_Fix.zip

Version 1.0 - 1.9 Patch for Win/Mac (if you’re still using version 1, we really recommend an upgrade to the latest EarthNC Plus versions)

V1_GE5_Fix.zip

Get More from Google Ocean with EarthNC

EarthNC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:20:02 +0000

The oceans have come alive in brilliant 3D with the new Google Ocean layers in Google Earth 5. While Google has included some great starter content in their Ocean layers, EarthNC has a huge library of free nautical content to add to the ‘Ocean’ experience including charting, fishing and dive sites, weather, photos, videos, and more.

Here are just a few EarthNC layers you might want to try -

EarthNC Online Charts - View navaids, channels, lights, and more with EarthNC Online. Use the Weather and Tide links to find current conditions at thousands of locations. Explore thousands of wrecks and dive site locations with our Fish and Dive Site layers. To learn more, visit the EarthNC Online homepage or try it now in Google Earth.

Coastal Photos from Marinas.com - View thousands of coastal locations with our Marinas.com Aerial Photo map. Photos are in brilliant high-resolution and where taken from low altitude for the best possible views of marinas, inlets, bridges, and more. Combined with EarthNC chart information and the Google Earth satellite images - it’s as close to ‘being there’ as you can get from your computer. Each location includes links to more information. Try it now in Google Earth. Areas include North American coastline, rivers, and the Great Lakes, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Worldwide YouTube Boating Videos - Watch people boat, fish, and sail with our worldwide boating video map. Just zoom into any area and if people have uploaded boating videos they’ll show as thumbnails. Click on a thumbnail and you can play the video right in Google Earth. Try in now in Google Earth.

View a 3D Chart - Try out a 3D chart in Google Earth. Zoom in below the water and you can see the chart mapped directly onto the ocean bottom. We hope Google provides an option to turn off the surface wave layer in the future so that you can see charts in 3D from more Zoom levels.

Beyond the Basics - Ready for more than just simple ocean browsing? EarthNC provides full chart products and GPS integration with EarthNC Plus - you can even use them offline! Try our full charts online free for 30 days with an EarthNC Lite Trial. Plan a trip, collect waypoints, and more with Google Earth and then send them to handheld GPS devices with our Trip and Route Tool.

New High-Res Aerial Photo Map from Marinas.com

EarthNC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:44:09 +0000

EarthNC is pleased to include 1000’s of coastal aerial photos into our Online, Lite, and Plus product lines provided by EarthNC partner Marinas.com. Photos include marinas, inlets, bridges, restaurants, and much more. Each photo includes links to additional information about that location. Best of all, photos include not just the US Coasts, Great Lakes, and Major Rivers, they also include the Bahamas, much of the Caribbean, and Europe. Simply zoom into an area, and if photos exist you’ll see the thumbnails automatically. Click on a thumbnail to view a larger picture.

You can view the Marinas.com Aerial Photo Layer alone in Google Earth HERE, or better yet, view it within our free EarthNC Online service, or with full nautical charts as part of our EarthNC Lite 30 day Trial.

Worldwide Boating Videos

EarthNC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:34:20 +0000

UPDATED 2/03/2010 - The Earth is 2/3rds water and judging by the huge volume of boating videos online, it’s clear that enjoying the water is a worldwide pursuit. To help put boating videos in their world context, EarthNC has put together a growing Google Earth map of boating videos drawn from YouTube. Videos are found automatically by searching YouTube for boating, sailing, and fishing keywords that also include a place description.

Getting Started

Before downloading our Boating Videos for Google Earth KML file, we suggest that you first ensure that you have the latest version of Google Earth. The file won’t work properly unless you have at least version 4.2. Get the latest Google Earth HERE.
Once you’ve verified that you have the latest Google Earth, open our Boating Videos for Google Earth KML file. This file will update with new boating videos automatically as you use Google Earth
Locations with boating videos are marked with video thumbnails. Click on a thumbnail to see videos for that location. I
For even more context to the videos, especially in North America, you can also open our EarthNC Online Google Earth file which adds charts, tides, weather, and more to your Google Earth world.

Help us Add More Videos

If you’re adding your own videos to YouTube, make sure you use their new location menu during upload so that we can automatically get the locations in the future and use good keywords to indicate their about boating or fishing.

Exploring the Sea Floor with Google Ocean

EarthNC — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:54:28 +0000

The new Google Ocean capability in Google Earth 5.0 now provides the ability to ‘clamp’ overlays and features to the sea floor for 3D effect. To start testing this capability, we’ve rendered one of our Hawaii NOAA raster charts in the new format as shown in the image at left.

You can try it out yourself by opening our Island of Hawaii Chart in Google Earth 5.0. If you need to upgrade or download Google Earth, you can get it at http://earth.google.com

To see the 3D ocean floor, you have to zoom ‘below’ the water’s surface or even better, turn of the ‘Water Surface’ in the view menu. We’re currently working to update our EarthNC Raster DVD’s to allow the ‘Clamped to Sea Floor’ option.

For more Ocean layers, please try our EarthNC Online and EarthNC Lite charting layers for Google Earth.