NOAA's - ENC Direct to GIS

The ENC Direct to GIS web portal data is created by translanting NOAA ENCs into Oracle Spatial data. NOAA Office of Coast Survey currently serves up ~670 ENCs as a free download for use in Navigation Software. The NOAA ENCs are in International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) S-57 format, which is the data standard developed by the IHO to be used for the exchange of digital hydrographic data The following links have detailed descriptions of ENC/S-57 data.

The following is a list of tools available for the NOAA ENC? Direct to GIS website. Each tool performs a different task as described below.

Working with Layers: [top]

A closed group, click to open.

An open group, click to close.

A map layer.

A hidden group/layer, click to make visible.

A visible group/layer, click to hide.

A visible layer, but not at this scale.

A partially visible group, click to make visible.

An inactive layer, click to make active.

The active layer.

Extract Help: [top]

How do I extract data I can't see / over a large geographic extent (For exmaple all of the soundings in the Gulf of Mexico)? This is the number one question we get via Email and there are a number or workarounds:

This alternative verision of the site has no scale dependencies so data can be seen and extracted when zoomed out at the National level. The disadvantage of it is you can only view / extract one layer at at time. Also soundings are excluded as they would take to long to draw.

ENC Direct No scale dependencies Viewer

Also there is an alternative extract form that will extract data regardless of scale dependencies. If you type in the bounding box of your area of interest and select the layers you are interested in and the format you can extact the data without having to visulize it in the ArcIMS viewer. You need to very familiar with S-57 in order to use this extract form. If you wanted all of the Soundings in the Gulf of Mexico for example, you would type in the bounding box lattitude and longitude and then select

Spatial Direct Data Order Form

Enabling the Latitude / Longitude display in Internet Explorer 7: [top]

Click Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Options > Allow Status bar updates via script.

File Naming Conventions and Scale bands: [top]

The ENC Direct to GIS Data is composed of 4 scale bands.

1 Overview 1:1,500,001 or smaller
2 General 1:1,500,000 to 1:600,001
3 Coastal 1:600,000 to 1:150,001
4 Approach and Harbor 1:150,000 or larger

The number in the file name after ENCDIRECT indicates which scale band the layer/file came from.
Thus in the example below:

ENCDIRECT1_COALNE_line.shp - Coastline from 1:1,500,001 or smaller ENCs
ENCDIRECT2_COALNE_line.shp - Coastline from 1:1,500,000 to 1:600,001 ENCs
ENCDIRECT3_COALNE_line.shp - Coastline from 1:600,000 to 1:150,001 ENCs
ENCDIRECT_COALNE_line.shp - Coastline from 1:150,000 or larger ENCs

Note the Approach and Harbor Scale band data does not have the 4_5 in the name.

Layers decriptions of the layers in the table of contents are available by clicking on the layer name. As long as pop-up blockers are turned off, a pop-up will be launched that gives the layer definition. The six letter acronyms in the file names are s-57 Object Names. These acronyms are described in detail at:

http://www.caris.com/S-57/frames/S57catalog.htm

http://www.s-57.com

The column names in the shapefiles are object attribures. These are also described in detail at the above sites.

Nautical Chart Features/S-57 Object Classes not available through this site: [top]

To improve the speed of this site certain nautical chart features/ s-57 object classes that are in ENCs are not available. These object classes/layers are as follows:

Airports
Buildings
Coastguard Stations
Control point
Conveyor
Cranes
Current
Dams
Dikes
Fortified Structure
Ice area
Land Elevation
Log Pond
Production Area
Radio Calling in Point
Rapids
Roads
Runways
Sand Wave
Sea Plane Landing Area
Silos
Slope Topline
Sloping Ground
Water Turbluence
Warning Signal Station

Data from these object classes/layers are available by request. However as these are primarily land based features it is recommended to get data for these features from another source, such as

US Geological Survey's National Map site:

USGS National Map.

Connecting to the Services in ESRI GIS Desktop Software [Top]

The ENCDirect to GIS Service can be imported into ESRI GIS Desktop clients (ArcView, ArcGIS, ArcExplorer)
thereby eleminating the need to extract the data. Instructions are as follows:

In ArGIS 9.1
- Click add data
- Click GIS Servers
- Click add ArcIMS server
- Type in "ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov"
- Get list of services
- You should see six encdirect services.
  
  encdirect - all the scale bands/data
  encdirect_noscale -all the scale bands/data but with no scale dependencies. All layers are in alphabetic order for ease of use.
  encdirect_approach -1:150,000 or larger scale data
  encdirect_coastal -1:600,000 to 1:150,001 scale data
  encdirect_general -1:1,500,000 to 1:600,001 scale data
  encdirect_overview -1:1,500,001 or smaller scale data
- Select the service you're interested in and click 'add'
- You should be able to see the entire service in ArcMap.
WMS / WFS Web Mapping Services and Web Feature Services    [Top]

In addition to the ArcIMS site, the ENCDirect Project also provides Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) WMS and WFS urls. These allow
the data to be viewed directly in OGC WMS/WFS Clients such as Google Earth, Nasa's World Wind and Gaia. There is one WMS for the
entire service and one each of the scale bands.

The Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service (WMS) protocol defines a simple interface for web based mapping applications.
The WMS protocol is based on a simple query syntax for posting a request for the desired layers and region to the server, which
returns a map as a standard image (GIF, PNG or other format). The capabilities of a Web Map Service are described in an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document.

http://ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/encdirect?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities

http://ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/encdirect_coastal?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities

http://ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/encdirect_approach?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities

http://ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/encdirect_general?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities

http://ocs-spatial.ncd.noaa.gov/wmsconnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/encdirect_overview?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetCapabilities

Metadata    [Top]

To view metadata for the entire site visit: NOAA's ENCDirect to GIS
Metadata is also available for each indivial layer. To view layer specific metadata click on the layer in the table of contents. Then click on the metadata button.
This brings up layer specific metadata in html format. Layer specific metadata is also available in sgml, txt, and SGML formats upon request.

Other Nautical Chart GIS Resources    [Top]

Free Raster Navigational Charts are available for download from:

http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/Index.htm

NOAAs Coastal Services Center has created an Electronic Navigational Chart Handler. It turns individual ENCs cells into a geodatabase/shapefiles. It is located at:

CSC's Electronic Naviagationl Chart Handler

For more information, please contact:    [Top]

  enc.gis@noaa.gov
Cartographic and Geospatial Technology Programs
NOAA/National Ocean Service/Office of Coast Survey/Coast Survey Development Laboratory

DOC>NOAA> NOS>OCS

	Overview Map On: Clicking on this tool allows the user to turn the overview map on or off.
	Zoom In: Zooms in on the map view, centered on a clicked position or a dragged rectangle.
	Zoom Out: Zooms out on the map view, centered on a clicked position or a dragged rectangle.
	Full Extent: Selecting this tool will bring you to the default or full extent of the map.
	Zoom Last: Selecting this tool will bring you back to your previous view extent.
	Pan: Moves the geographic area shown within the map view in the direction the cursor is dragged across the screen. To drag, position the cursor over the map view, then hold down the mouse button and "drag" the cursor in the desired direction, releasing the mouse button when through. The map will redraw.
	Identify: Click on a feature (only features within the active layer will respond to identify/search tools). Data/information available for the feature selected is shown in the area of the screen beneath the map view.
	Find: Select this tool, then click and drag your mouse to draw a rectangle around the observations or forecasts points/zones you would like to select.
	Query: This tool will launch a window below the map frame for you to enter a SQL query of the active layer in the map.
	Select by Rectangle: Select active layer features located within a dragged rectangle. Selected feature(s) are highlighted, and data/information available for the feature(s) selected is shown in the area of the screen beneath the map view. The map view will NOT zoom to the rectangle selected.
	Clear: This tool will clear any selected features from your map.
	Extract: To use this tool, zoom to the area of interest, select the features of interest, then click this tool. This tool launches the ENC? Direct to GIS Data Order Form Page. Help for this order form is available here.