Charting New Locations

[Rich Keller]

I have been using a few sites to help me find locations I have never been to before that have worked well together so far. The first is google earth. Download Google Earth 7.1.2.2041 for Mac Free This site will give you the GPS location for where ever you place the pointer on the map. The second is a site where you can download KMZ files that will overlay NOAA charts onto google earth. Gulf Diving Home Page Once you download a KMZ file and open it the file will open google earth and overlay the NOAA chart. You can then put the pointer onto a feature of the NOAA chart that you can not see on google earth alone. I am not sure exactly how accurate this is but it should be good enough to get you into the ballpark of where you want to go.

There is another site that shows charts with more detail then NOAA but there is no way that I can see to get GPS locations for is Navionics. Navionics Webapp

There is also a NOAA site that will allow you to view their charts on line. NOAA's On-Line Chart Viewer

The site I put up for the KMZ files only shows the south east so if anyone knows of a site like this that has KMZ files for other areas please post them here.

 

[Jessica Anderson]

I use these sites as well for finding new dive spots. Great suggestions. You can get GPS locations from the Navionics app. I use the Webapp if I just want to look up something quickly but I use the app on my phone and tablet to mark spots and get GPS coordinates.