NOAA's Precision Marine Navigation team is creating new online services to enable more efficient access to the NOAA data that powers private-sector marine navigation products. The goal is to foster innovation, improve navigation safety, aid in more efficient coastal route planning, and help mariners make informed decisions as they navigate our nation's waterways.
Currently, mariners may have to visit as many as eleven different websites to get the information they need to safely and efficiently navigate U.S. ports. NOAA’s Precision Marine Navigation team will make all of this critical information available at one convenient online location. This new website, which is currently under development, will provide mariners with two key services. One is a map viewer, which will allow users — mariners, recreational boaters, or any interested parties — to easily explore all available NOAA datasets from their computer or smartphone. The other component will feature robust technical documentation and application programming interfaces (APIs) for users who wish to ingest NOAA data into existing ship board navigation software.
Combining NOAA navigational data and presenting it all in one online location will help improve decision-making throughout the maritime transportation industry. When the program becomes fully operational, all marine navigation data services that NOAA provides to mariners will be disseminated from a central location, allowing for systems to easily ingest and display the data for users to make decisions more efficiently. The many streams of data available to mariners become even more powerful when combined, potentially allowing mariners to optimize their routes in new ways to save time and fuel. NOAA is working to engage industry partners throughout the development of this new online service to ensure it meets the needs of the many users who rely on this data.
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