Chart-Related Resources

Free Downloadable Satellite Charts by Cruisers

A growing number of experienced cruisers are creating, maintaining and sharing large collections of satellite charts, to keep the cruising community safer, particularly in the Pacific and Indian Oceans where the accuracy of commercial charts need to be carefully considered.

• Bruce Balan's Chart Locker covers much of the Pacific, including parts of Mexico, French Polynesia, Japan, Taiwan, & New Zealand (among others).
• John and Sue Hacking of SV Ocelot provide free high-resolution charts covering the entire coastlines of over 40 countries. Just released on their blog is a full set of Red Sea charts to download in mbTiles format from the Canaries off North Africa through the Eastern Caribbean, much of the South Pacific and all the way to East Africa and the Red Sea.
• Sherry McCampbell of SV Soggy Paws, has downloadable charts. Her mbTiles focus more on the Red Sea and she has (older) KAPs of other areas. Sherry also provides many compendiums of different areas, collections of information from many cruising sources all collated into a single downloadable PDF file.
• Peter of Grace now has published a set of mbTiles charts that cover several countries in the Mediterranean as well as the west coast of North America, all the way from Southern Alaska down to the California/Mexico border, all at zooms 10‑18, in ArcGIS, Bing, Google, & Navionics. He also publishes his polygons, for those who want to recreate his work.
• Terry Sargent of SY Valhalla, spent 10 years documenting anchorages spanning from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of USA, satellite imagery-based companion charts to the anchorages, CM93 charts, cruising guides, routes and miscellaneous information useful to cruisers using the OpenCPN program. The result was Terry's Topics, compiled and supplemented by inputs garnered from cruisers and other sources and now available on S/Y Grace's website.
• Mike of yacht Zen Again.

Chart sharing is a valid and useful tool to use in conjunction with official charts. Let us know if you have a collection of charts you are sharing and we'll add you to the list.

Articles

• Using OpenCPN With Satellite Imagery – by Dave and Sherry McCampbell of SV Soggy Paws
• How Chart Exchanges Benefit the Cruising Community – by John and Sue Hacking of SV Ocelot
• Free Digital Nautical Charts: Are they any good? - by Yachting Monthly (Feb, 2022)

Paper Charts

Announcement by the UKHO to withdraw their paper charts by 2026

Last Chance to Get Imray Charts for Leisure Sailors
For more than 200 years, Imray Charts have been trusted by mariners and sailing enthusiasts around the world. But now, in recognition of the growing trends in nautical digital navigation, the company has announced the gradual conclusion of its chart publishing operations. There’s still time to stock up on key charts for your long-distance cruising (their North Atlantic Planning chart is a great addition if planning a Transatlantic). Find out more at this news item.

Follow the links below to discover more news, reports and resources related to charts.