THE NAUTICAL CHART

NAUTICAL CHARTS

Is primarily designed to navigable water

areas in order to give information such
as coastline, harbors, channels,
obstructions, currents, depth of water,
aids to navigation and other essential
information that may be useful to the
navigator.
CLASSIFICATION OF CHARTS

 OCEAN CHARTS OR SAILING CHARTS

 GENERAL CHARTS
 HARBOR CHARTS

 COASTAL CHARTS
OCEAN CHARTS

These are small-scale charts and

are used primarily for deep-sea
navigation. Its coastal details such
as rocks and shoals lining the shores
are not indicated.
OCEAN CHART
GENERAL CHARTS

Are intended for coastwise navigation

outside of outlying reefs and shoals
when the vessel is generally within sight
of land or aids to navigation
GENERAL CHART
COASTAL CHARTS

Are very large-scale charts used when

navigating in close proximity to the coast. A
lot of information are depicted in these
charts such as the nature of the coastli
ne position and characteristics of lights,
towers and beacons, depth of water, current
and tidal information, rocks, shoals, buoy
and other floating aids to navigation
COASTAL CHART
HARBOR CHARTS

Are very large-scale charts

that depict detailed
information of small areas
such as harbors, rivers,
etc.
HARBOR CHART
OCEAN CHARTS = 1:500,000 AND SMALLER
GENERAL CHARTS = 1:150,000 – 1:500,000
COASTAL CHARTS = 1:50,000 – 1:150,000

HARBOR CHARTS = 1:15,000 – 1:50,000

SMALL SCALE CHART

EVERYTHING APPEARS SMALL – less detail.

Example:
1:100,000 MEANS 1 INCH ON THE CHART
IS 100,000 INCHES ON THE
EARTH’S SURFACE
LARGE SCALE CHART

EVERYTHING APPEARS LARGE – more detail.

Example:
1:1,000 MEANS 1 INCH ON THE CHART
IS 1,000 INCHES ON THE
EARTH’S SURFACE
SMALL SCALE= LESS DETAILS
LARGE SCALE CHART=MORE DETAILS
CHART PROJECTION
MERCATOR CHARTS

• Are charts develop out of the

Mercator projection and are used
primarily for long sea voyages.
Navigators often used this kind of
chart because it shows all rhumb
lines, including the equator,
parallels of latitude and meridians
are straight lines.
GNOMONIC CHARTS

• Are charts developed out of

Gnomonic projection and are used
primarily for great circle sailing. It
is commonly used by navoigators for
planning a great circle track
between two points.
PARTS OF A NAUTICAL
CHART
TITLE BLOCK

It contains information of the

area of coverage, the scale of
the chart, the type of
projection, the reference
level for soundings and the
units of depth and elevation.
It also lists any cautionary
notes
 CHART NUMBER

Is the number
assigned to the chart
located in the lower
right hand corner.
Use this to locate
charts and to make
purchases.
 EDITION NUMBER

•Is the number located on

the lower left corner of the
chart comprising the
updates from the Notices to
Mariners
EDITION NUMBER
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE SCALE

The latitude and longitude scale refer to the

graduated meridians and the graduated
parallels that are found in the four borders of
a chart.

The LATITUDE SCALE is found at the LEFT AND

RIGHT BORDERS while the LONGITUDE SCALE
is found at the TOP AND BOTTOM BORDERS
1’ LATITUDE = 1 NAUTICAL MILE

1 NAUTICAL MILE = 1.852 KM

SOUNDINGS AND WATER DEPTH

Depths designation are shown with:

Numbers -which
reflect the
vertical sounding
datum
 SOUNDINGS AND WATER DEPTH

Depths designation are shown with:

Colors = shallow water is

tinted a darker blue and
deeper water is a lighter
blue and white.
 SOUNDINGS AND WATER DEPTH

Depths designation are shown with:

Contour lines - a system

of standardized symbols
and abbreviations- dots
and dashes
Depths are expressed in:

-Feet
1 FOOT = 0.305 METER
1 FATHOM = 6 FEET
-Meters 1 FATHOM = 1.829 METERS

-Fathoms
COMPASS ROSE

• Every chart has at least one Compass

Rose
• The star on the Compass Rose points to
True North
• The outer circle projects True North

• The inner circle projects Magnetic

North
 TRUE NORTH

MAGNETIC NORTH