A Value Added, On-Line, Electronic Chart Catalog Display
For NIMA, NOAA and British Admiralty Paper Charts
  1. Select the publisher of choice by clicking the NOAA, NIMA or British Admiralty logo. The index page for a selected catalog will display. NOTE: [SPICA™ work best with Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. SPICA™ will not work properly using Netscape.]

  2. From the index page, click the area of the world for which you need charts. That catalog page will display after loading. NOTE: [NOAA catalogs as printed by NOAA, have no index; thus, we made an index for SPICA™ using thumbnails of the panels in the NOAA catalogs.]

    As the display loads, you will see a blank page with chart outlines appearing as they load into your Internet browser window. The loading speed is controlled by your Internet connection speed. If you have a 56K Modem the average load time will be around 60 to 90 seconds. If you are connected at DSL or higher connection speed, it will load in about 15 to 30 seconds. Once the charts load, the background geographic image loads, and you are ready to begin selecting charts for that area.


  3. Using the display is easy; use your mouse to rollover a given chart, the chart limits will change from blue to a “highlight" red while the area of coverage will turn gray or become shaded. A small "pop-up" window will appear next to your mouse pointer displaying the chart number, scale, and edition number of that particular chart. The shading and change of chart limit color makes it easy for you to see to what chart the pop-up window details applies.

    If you load a catalog page that seems too busy or congested with overlapping chart profiles, you have the option of using the “SCALE” feature of SPICA™ located at the top, right hand side of the page. This will filter out all charts except for the scale range you select. The scales used by the SPICA™ program correspond to ranges defined by the American Practical Navigator (Bowditch), i.e.; harbor, coastal, general and sailing charts.

    NOTE:
    Harbor Charts: scales between 1:1 and 1:50,000
    Coastal Charts: scales between 1:50,000 and 1:150,000
    General Charts: scales between 1:150,000 and 1:600,000
    Sailing Charts: scales 1:600,000 and over

  4. To select a chart for purchase, simply click once on each chart you want. The selected charts will remain in their "high-lighted" mode. If you don’t want a chart selected, you may discard it by simply clicking on it again. The shading will disappear and the outline will turn back to blue.


  5. Once finished with the selection process on a given display page, click the "Add to Cart" button located at the top, right corner of the page (next to American Nautical Services logo). This click adds all the charts you selected to the shopping cart. You may continue to select additional charts by clicking on the “Continue Shopping” button, which will return you to the chart display page you left. You may continue to select charts on this display page or other SPICA™ pages by moving from page to page within the SPICA™ program.

  6. Once finished with the SPICA™ program, either click the "check out" button at the bottom of the page to purchase the charts, or click on the "Continue Shopping" button to shop further in other areas of the store. Your chart selections will remain in your shopping cart until you are ready to check out of the store. NOTE: [You may view your order at anytime, from anywhere on the site by simply clicking on the "view order" button at the top of each page.]



  7. Harbor Charts and Plan Profiles: Some charts that feature harbors have multiple plans or harbors on the same chart. Each plan (harbor) will have a different title. It may or may not have a different scale. We have displayed each plan in the appropriate location on a given display page, thus a pop-up window will display for each plan when pointed to. The selection of a given harbor chart that has been incorporated, with plans of other harbors will be recorded in your shopping basket under the generic name of the single chart upon which all plans or record have been printed. The shopping cart will display the appropriate chart number that incorporates all the plans as named in the original paper catalog. The selection of such a chart will cause all other plans with the same chart number to turn red and shade or turn gray in the SPICA™ display

  8. Display of charts on more than one page: Chart manufacturers create their printed catalogs so that the coverage on each page overlaps another to some degree. This means the same chart may be available on several pages of a given catalog. We took steps to prevent duplicate chart purchases caused by this overlap. If you open a catalog page and there are charts listed on that page that you’ve already added to your shopping cart from another page, when the page loads, the charts already in the shopping cart should display in red and can’t be discarded.

  9. Adjusting quantities of charts in shopping basket (adding / deleting selected charts): If, for any reason, you don’t want a chart previously selected and put in your shopping basket, you may delete it from the shopping cart by going to the shopping cart, checking the “delete” box for that chart, and the clicking the “re-calculate” button. In a like manner, you may buy multiple copies of a given chart by changing the number in the quantity box. Click “re-calculate” to provide you with a new total in either case.

  10. Problem Resolution/ Suggestions: We hope you find SPICA™ a useful tool. Should you encounter any problems or have any suggestions or comments, please send us an e-mail at: Vmills@amnautical.com. Please include your computer details and your browser version.


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