The GIS Integration and Development Program

Grant Project Summary: University of Florida

A Recreational Boater-Based Method for Re-designing the NOS Small-Craft Chart: Promoting Safe Navigation and Stewardship of Coastal Resources

August 1997 to September 2000Grant Project Area Map

Project Summary

The University of Florida Sea Grant Program entered into a partnership project with the NOAA Coastal Services Center due to increasing concerns about environmental impacts caused by recreational boating. This project determined chart information needs of boaters and promoted NOAA's safe navigation and stewardship missions. Study objectives included: identification of information needed by boaters; development of a prototype small–craft, and ancillary map/guide products, which included information identified by recreational boaters, fishers, divers, resource managers and environmentalists, for the modernization of a new generation chart, evaluation of utility of additional information provided on the prototype products through a boater survey, and a study on whether the new information contained on the prototype chart and ancillary products could change boater's environmental perception, attitudes, behavior, and knowledge on–the–water.

The prototype chart was produced for study purposes by NOAA's Marine Chart Division in collaboration with the University of Florida Sea Grant Program and the NOAA Coastal Services Center. The design was based on recommendations from boaters and marine industry representatives who attended workshops in southwest Florida in May 1998. It covers the southwest Florida coast from lower Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor. Each side of the Prototype Photo–Chart is divided into top and bottom half–sections, which are further subdivided into panels. Navigational chart panels are found on the bottom portion of both sides. Environmental and boating map panels are presented on the top portion of both slides and include: anchorage locations, bridges, boat ramps, sea grass, marsh, shellfish harvesting, depth zones, and speed zones. Background aerial photography and imagery is an important additional feature of the prototype photo–chart. There are examples of background imagery covering both land and water, as well as color imagery only covering land.

Four chief ancillary boater information products were developed, distributed, and evaluated. Guide to Anchorages in Southwest Florida, 2nd Edition was produced by the Boaters Action and Information League (BAIL) in association with Florida Sea Grant, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, and the West Coast Inland Navigation District. Sarasota Bay Blueways Pocket Guide was produced by the Sarasota Bay National Estuary Program. Six Anchorage and Waterway Photo–Maps of popular boating locales were prepared as place–mats for waterfront businesses by Florida Sea Grant. The Florida Sea Grant Anchorage Web site, was designed and produced in coordination with the Regional Harbor Board for Southwest Florida and with the cooperation of the West Coast Inland Navigation District.

NOAA Coastal Services Center's Role

This was a grant project and NOAA did not have substantial involvement with the work.

Grantee Overview

The University of Florida, Gainesville, is a major public, comprehensive, land-grant research university established in 1905. The state's oldest, largest and most comprehensive institution, the University of Florida is among the nation's most academically diverse public universities. Florida has a long history of established programs in international education, research, and service. It is one of only 17 public, land-grant universities that belongs to the Association of American Universities and is one of ten public universities in Florida. Florida has 16 colleges and more than 100 research, service and education centers, bureaus, and institutes. More than 100 undergraduate majors are offered. The Graduate School coordinates almost 200 graduate programs with professional degree programs including dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.

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