Producing Traditional Paper Charts
Traditional paper charts are produced by a lithographic printing process, and are printed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Individual charts vary in physical size and scale to meet specific needs of mariners. For example:

• Most traditional paper charts are printed on one side of large-format, durable paper.
• Small-craft charts are pre-folded much like a road map and are tailored for use by the recreational boater.
• Some traditional charts that cover rivers or canals are created in page format and are spiral bound to form a book.

Updating Traditional Paper Charts
When a new chart edition is created, it includes the latest nautical information available to NOAA up until the time of printing. New editions are published when one or more changes of navigational importance render the prior printing obsolete. During a typical year, NOAA may create 200 to 300 new chart editions. The edition number and date (month and year of printing) are found in the lower left corner of the chart. The dates of the latest Notice to Mariners and Local Notice to Mariners corrections applied to the chart are also listed.

The date of a chart is of vital importance to the navigator. When charted information becomes obsolete, further use of the chart for navigation may be dangerous. Natural and artificial changes, many of them critical, are occurring constantly. It is important that navigators obtain the latest edition of a chart, and correct their copies at regular intervals with changes published in the Notices to Mariners. To determine the current published editions of NOAA charts, consult the Dates of Latest Editions.