Electronic charts from NOAA

[Capt. Wanabe]

I've spent the last half hour in a fruiless search for a way to download and use the free PDF charts from NOAA on my iPad. I have done this successfully on my computer but no luck with the pad. The rub seems to be that Adobe Flash Player is requirred to view the pdf files but Flash is still not supported by Apple on the iPad. The NOAA site also has free downloads for RNC and ENC files but I don't know if those can be used on an iPad either.
I think I remember reading posts of others using the NOAA maps on their iPad so I must be missing something. Are other Apps required to see the NOAA charts?
Frank

 

[Tug4Two]

Try this link http://www.charts.noaa.gov/PDFs/PDFs.shtml

 

[walldog]

I've spent the last half hour in a fruiless search for a way to download and use the free PDF charts from NOAA on my iPad. I have done this successfully on my computer but no luck with the pad. The rub seems to be that Adobe Flash Player is requirred to view the pdf files but Flash is still not supported by Apple on the iPad. The NOAA site also has free downloads for RNC and ENC files but I don't know if those can be used on an iPad either.
I think I remember reading posts of others using the NOAA maps on their iPad so I must be missing something. Are other Apps required to see the NOAA charts?
Frank

Hi Capt. Wanabe, In order to get the PDFs into your iPad, you need to use "Dropbox". Install the free program Dropbox on your computer and on your iPad. I also have the Kindle app on my iPad, but you do not need it, but I find that I like to keep my PDF files ready for reading on the Kindle app rather than the reader native to the iPad. Log into your Dropbox account with both devices. Place your PDF files into a Dropbox folder, they will sync when you have internet on your computer and internet (Cellular or wifi) on your iPad. Adobe Flash is not required to read PDF files. The RNC and ENC files are not for us casual users.

If you are still having trouble viewing them from your iPad, check back here and we will see what we can do.

Herb,

 

[Hydraulicjump]

I have had success in short cutting Dropbox. I download the PDF in Safari. After it has fully downloaded (this takes time even with a good wifi connection due to the size of the files) and I can see the whole chart in my screen, I tap the top of the image to get to the "Open In" dialogue box. I then open the file in iBooks allows me to read and save it. You can also open it in Kindle, but mine seems to crash a lot.

Jeff

 

[kevinflanagan]

I also had luck using Dropbox. I like Dropbox because of the accessibility from any of your devices from home computer to iPads, phones. I don't do photos because it takes too much storage and I want to use the 'free' storage option.

 

[HRowland]

I use iNavX on my iPad. Once you purchase the app you can download NOAA raster charts (basically scanned paper charts) at no additional charge. It supports many other chart formats such as Navionics but these must be purchased.
It is a full featured chartplotter app. You can see more at http://www.inavx.com/.


Howard

 

[Capt. Wanabe]

Thanks for the great advice. Discovered my mistake. On the NOAA chart site you can "view" the PDF files or you can click on the free download. The latter free download did work and I was able to view on the iPad. Re-scaling is incredibly slow when zooming. Hope this gets better. I also bought iNavX and am going to use drop box to improve device access. Thanks again for the help.

Frrank

 

[Flatlander]

Check out the iSailGPS app. I installed it on our iPad, which happens to have the 3G card. That's good because the 3G includes the GPS receiver. Before taking a cruise to Alaska this summer, I downloaded all the NOAA maps. The app makes that very simple to do. It worked great. The app knows your position, selects the appropriate chart and changes charts as needed. It displays Lat, Lon, and SOG. It allows you to create waypoints and save your track. And it's inexpensive, under $10 and that includes updates and of course all the charts are free. Down side for you folks in the PNW, Canadian charts don't work on iSail.