KETCHIKAN -- They're detailed, free, and much better than a road map for recreational boaters wanting to determine their location while under way.

They're called "BookletCharts," and they're an experimental service that's being offered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Coast Survey.

The online service provides downloadable files of sections of NOAA nautical charts that can be printed on letter-size paper.

NOAA has an extensive catalog of BookletCharts available for the Alaska coastline.

Ed Martin, chief of the Office of Coast Survey's Customer Affairs Branch, said the service is geared toward recreational boats that don't have the space to lay out conventional chart books, or conventional charts and charting tools.

Also, many recreational boats don't have a computer on board for electronic navigation.

The BookletCharts can't be used for official navigation by regulated commercial vessels, NOAA said.

The data for the BookletCharts are updated frequently, but not as frequently as data for NOAA's Raster and Print-on-Demand navigational charts, according to Martin.

BookletCharts are available from the NOAA Office of Coast Survey's Web site at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/BookletChart.html.

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