NOAA ENC Direct to GIS

Find charted bridges around a waypoint.

Enter coordinates and BoatWaypoint checks nearby bridge features in NOAA’s ENC GIS conversion. Use the result to identify constraints to investigate — then verify the current official ENC before navigation.

Start with the Jacksonville example or enter a waypoint from your planned route.

Navigation check: BoatWaypoint is a planning aid, not a substitute for official NOAA charts, USCG Local Notices to Mariners, bridge operator instructions, on-water judgment or a chartplotter. Air-gap observations may be preliminary and are measured at a designated reference point.

How to read ENC clearance fields

Where NOAA’s GIS conversion exposes them, BoatWaypoint displays VERCLR as charted vertical clearance and HORCLR as horizontal clearance. NOAA ENC source attributes are metric; BoatWaypoint shows the original meters and a feet conversion without changing the source value.

Why this is a discovery tool, not a chartplotter

ENC Direct to GIS is derived from NOAA ENCs for analysis and is explicitly not certified for navigation. It is useful for finding bridge features and their chart attributes, but passage decisions belong on current official navigation products with local notices and bridge restrictions checked separately.

NOAA ENC Direct to GIS documentation ↗