Raster Charts eXcluding Land (XL)
Familiar nautical chart basemap, ready for immediate use in GIS or other applications
Raster Charts eXcluding Land (RCXL) are electronic versions of the familiar nautical paper charts and ideal for use as a base map or simple nautical chart background. These charts have had the land removed and are ready to be paired with the users preferred land mapping dataset (Google Maps, OpenStreetMaps, Bing, etc.).
Raster Charts contain all the same information as paper charts including, for example, depth soundings, buoy numbers, basic land features etc. Providing familiarity for users who work with nautical charts and pre-symbolised so that they are ready for immediate use in GIS or other applications.
Raster Charts XL are perfect for those looking to add a familiar authoritative source to proposals, GIS projects and Web Mapping Applications.
RCXL are ideal for use as a:
- Base / Background Map
- Reference Dataset
- Simple nautical chart background with your own preferred land data
Technical Details
- Easily opened using any image viewer software
- Available as individual charts or as a Web Map Tile Service
- Supplied in GIS compatible file formats (GeoTiff)
- Land based features carefully ‘snipped’ out and supplied as clear pixels
- Available for consumption quickly after purchase with no complicated setup or wait period
- Current coverage: UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Arabian Gulf
- Availability is dependent on permissions granted by contributing nations worldwide
- OceanWise obtain Raster Charts under licence from the UK, and other, Hydrographic Offices
Why have we eXcluded Land (XL)?
Land mapping datasets tend to fill bodies of water with a shade of blue, because maritime information isn’t useful for the majority of their users. In the same vein, Nautical Charts fill land with a mustard shade. These datasets are suitable for someone navigating a car, or a ship, but what happens when your use case requires harmonised land and maritime information? RCXL is developed to solve this exact issue.
By removing the land from Nautical Charts, users are now able to combine the useful aspects of both datasets for a harmonious mapping experience across land and sea. Finally, as Nautical Charts are designed without any context of the surrounding charts, land from one chart will often overlap valid maritime data from another – a by-product of removing the land is that issue is also resolved in RCXL.
Do you want to try it out for yourself? Please see all our mapping products on our demo site here.
How much do they cost / how do I buy?
Raster Charts XL can be supplied as individual charts or as a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). Prices vary depending on the area of interest, service and scale required.
Commercial customers can purchase our mapping products via our Licensed Partners who resell our data products. Click on any of our mapping partners below to be redirected to their website or for more details, see our Find A Partner page.
Please contact us directly if your needs are more complex or you need help in choosing the most appropriate product. See our Data Buying Guide
For Government, Academia & NGOs customers please contact OceanWise directly. All government organisations qualify for a discount and special licensing terms can apply where our data is used for education and publicly funded research, so please contact us for a quote.
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