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Topic: Nautical charts and maps

A line of people on a pier holding scissors just before cutting a long white ribbon studded with NOAA logos.

NOAA and partners cut ribbon on new pier, port facility in Charleston, South Carolina

July 8, 2026

Focus areas:

Marine & Aviation

Topics:

marine commerce

nautical charts and maps

A line of people on a pier holding scissors just before cutting a long white ribbon studded with NOAA logos.

A yellow, remotely operated uncrewed boat out on the water capable of mapping the seafloor.

NOAA awards $21.6M for uncrewed systems to support new charting and mapping vessels

May 6, 2026

Focus areas:

Marine & Aviation

Topics:

uncrewed systems

nautical charts and maps

A yellow, remotely operated uncrewed boat out on the water capable of mapping the seafloor.

A man at the helm of a boat out on the water in Alaska looks at monitors collecting seafloor data

NOAA mapping waters of Valdez, Alaska, for tsunami and landslide preparedness

July 28, 2025

Focus areas:

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

A man at the helm of a boat out on the water in Alaska looks at monitors collecting seafloor data

NOAA’s copper plate printing press, purchased by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1851 and in operation through 1976.

Friday Find: Hot off the Press

June 13, 2025

Focus areas:

Programs:

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

NOAA’s copper plate printing press, purchased by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1851 and in operation through 1976.

NOAA Ocean Exploration Internship Program Coordinator Jesse Gwinn on the fantail of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer with her in-progress bathymetry blanket, which illustrates ocean depth data collected during the Beyond the Blue: Johnston Atoll Mapping 2 expedition.

Stitching science: Bringing mapping data to life with crochet

November 19, 2024

Focus areas:

Topics:

ocean exploration

nautical charts and maps

NOAA Ocean Exploration Internship Program Coordinator Jesse Gwinn on the fantail of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer with her in-progress bathymetry blanket, which illustrates ocean depth data collected during the Beyond the Blue: Johnston Atoll Mapping 2 expedition.

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the water.

How does NOAA map and expore the ocean?

June 10, 2024

Focus areas:

Topics:

ocean exploration

nautical charts and maps

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the water.

A NOAA hydrographic survey vessel plows through the water with snow-covered mountains in the background.

Contract for 2 NOAA research ships awarded to Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, LLC.

July 6, 2023

Focus areas:

Marine & Aviation

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

A NOAA hydrographic survey vessel plows through the water with snow-covered mountains in the background.

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey Custom Chart app shows a complete map of the United States with tools to create nautical charts

NOAA releases custom nautical chart app: NOAA Custom Chart 2.0

March 1, 2023

Focus areas:

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey Custom Chart app shows a complete map of the United States with tools to create nautical charts

An etched copper plate used for printing maps and charts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This one is of Anacapa Island and was etched by American artist James McNeill Whistler. It features an overhead view of the island, as well a a side view of the coast, to which he added several birds flying overhead. The image on the plate is depicted backwards for use with a printing press. The artists had to use a mirror to etch the map from a reference sketch.

Friday Find: Doodles from famous artist's time at NOAA's Coast Survey

April 14, 2023

Focus areas:

Programs:

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

An etched copper plate used for printing maps and charts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This one is of Anacapa Island and was etched by American artist James McNeill Whistler. It features an overhead view of the island, as well a a side view of the coast, to which he added several birds flying overhead. The image on the plate is depicted backwards for use with a printing press. The artists had to use a mirror to etch the map from a reference sketch.

NOAA Ship Rainier.

NOAA's Coast Survey announces 2022 plans to map the ocean

February 3, 2022

Focus areas:

Topics:

nautical charts and maps

NOAA Ship Rainier.

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