Skip to Main Content

NAU 302 - Advanced Navigation

Ask me!

Profile Photo
Katherine "Kitty" Luce
She/her

Nautical Chart Symbols, Abbreviations and Terms

Chart No. 1: Nautical Chart Symbols, Abbreviations and Terms provides descriptions and depictions of the basic elements and symbols used on nautical charts published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). This document also shows the "INT1" symbols described in the Regulations of the IHO for International (INT) Charts and Chart Specifications of the IHO published by the International Hydrographic Organization.

Edition 11, dated November 2011, supersedes all previous editions of U.S. Chart No. 1.

NOAA US Chart Catalogs

View NOAA’s 1,000-plus U.S. coastal and Great Lakes nautical charts below. Each chart has the most recent Notice to Mariners corrections.

Interactive Catalogs can be found here, http://www.charts.noaa.gov/InteractiveCatalog/nrnc.shtml

Atlas of Pilot Charts

Pilot Charts depict averages in prevailing winds and currents, air and sea temperatures, wave heights, ice limits, visibility, barometric pressure, and weather conditions at different times of the year. The information used to compile these averages was obtained from oceanographic and meteorologic observations over many decades during the late 18th and 19th centuries.

The Atlas of Pilot Charts set is comprised of five volumes, each covering a specific geographic region. Each volume is an atlas of twelve pilot charts, each depicting the observed conditions for a particular month of any given year.

The charts are intended to aid the navigator in selecting the fastest and safest routes with regards to the expected weather and ocean conditions. The charts are not intended to be used for navigation.

Unites States Coast Pilots

The United States Coast Pilot® consists of a series of nautical books that cover a variety of information important to navigators of coastal and intracoastal waters and the Great Lakes. Issued in nine volumes, they contain supplemental information that is difficult to portray on a nautical chart.

Topics in the Coast Pilot include channel descriptions, anchorages, bridge and cable clearances, currents, tide and water levels, prominent features, pilotage, towage, weather, ice conditions, wharf descriptions, dangers, routes, traffic separation schemes, small-craft facilities, and Federal regulations applicable to navigation.

California State University Maritime Academy

Cal Maritime Library
200 Maritime Academy Drive
Vallejo, CA 94590 
707-654-1090

If you experience accessibility barriers using this website, please contact 707-654-1090 or library@csum.edu . You will receive a reply within two business days. The library is committed to remediate accessibility barriers within this website and will provide accommodations until the barriers are remediated.