Hi Rick,

As long as they are the Raster (or BSB formatted) charts we produce for NOAA.
(Their ENC vector charts are not compatible with Offshore Navigator, Offshore Navigator Lite, or Chart Navigator-Viewer)
(Note: the ENC vector charts from NOAA are usable in our Chart Navigator Pro software

The easiest and most Maptech software friendly method of downloading and installing the Raster charts is by visiting www.chartkit.com and clicking on "Free Charts" header.
Once there, click one of the Search By Region option on the right.

-Michael Bogannam
Technical Support Rep.

Micheal;

I have tried to access the link above without success. Is it still available? I have not been able to get downloaded charts (BSB format) from the NOAA site to be opened by my Maptech program (Offshore Navigator). I saved the charts to the chartkit folder along with the other charts that I can access with the program but the program doesn't access the new charts. What am I doing wrong?

www.chartkit.com is no longer offering free chart downloads.
If you need to download charts, please try this source for US raster chart files.

www.NOAA.gov

Note, NOAA delivers them to you in a zipped folder rather than a EXE file.
Download the zipped folder to your Desktop or My Documents.

1)Double click the zipped folder you have that you downloaded from NOAA.

You should see a folder called BSB_ROOT.(If you see ENC_ROOT, these are not BSB charts and are not the right style of charts. Delete the whole zipped folder and go back to NOAA's website and download RNC charts, those are what NOAA calls the BSB charts.)

2)Double click BSB_ROOT.

3)You will find in here one or more numbered folders (one for each chart you chose to download.)

4)Double click one of the numbered folders.

In here you will find a .BSB file and one or more .KAP files.

5)Select all these BSB and KAP files, and choose COPY from the Edit menu.

6)Now browse to the C drive, open the Chartkit folder , then the BSBcharts folder.

7)Click the Edit menu and choose Paste. (This will put the BSB & KAP files you CUT into this folder (where Offshore Navigator looks for charts.)

If you had more than one numbered folder in that BSB_ROOT folder (as mentioned in step 3)
go back to your NOAA zipped folder,

Double click BSB_ROOT
repeat steps 4 - 7 for the rest of these numbered folders.

When all chart files have been moved to the directory C:\Chartkit\BSBChart,
start your Offshore Navigator software again.

Click the Charts menu, then Charts List.

You should now see all the chart listings.



-Michael Bogannam
Technical Support Rep.