Parsing Notice to Mariners files (Maritime Charting)

The NTM Parser tool parses the Notice to Mariners (NTM) information downloaded from the NGA website into a comma-delimited format. The Notice to Mariners tool loads the parsed file into a table in ArcMap. To find Notice to Mariners for a specific chart, navigate to the NGA website at www.nga.mil and browse the Products and Services portal.

You only need to parse a document once unless errors occurred and parsing did not complete successfully. You should not edit the parsed file directly. Instead, add to or update it using the Notice to Mariners tool.

Note:

This parser tool only works for text documents saved from the NGA website and will not work with other countries' posted Notice to Mariners.

Steps:

1. Navigate to the NGA website to download the Notice to Mariners file specific to your production work.
2. Click PRODUCTS & SERVICES > NAUTICAL- HYDROGRAPHIC AND BATHYMETRIC PRODUCT.
3. Click the Notice To Mariners link on the left side of the page.
4. Click the NGA Notice to Mariners link under Product Search Sites.
5. From the query form, click the Search NtM's drop-down arrow and choose an option.

   You can search by a week number, a date range, or all NTMs.

6. Optionally, click the Query for Charts drop-down arrow and search for Notice to Mariners by chart number, region, subregion, port of call, geographic location, or all.
7. Choose an output.

   You can choose between HTML or Tab Delimited formats. If you choose Tab Delimited, you can choose the way the coordinate values are displayed (degree, minute, second; degree, decimal minute; or decimal degree), and the platform (PC or UNIX).

8. Click Search.

   A new window appears when the query is finished.

9. Click the here link to download the query results.
   Tip:

   Open the .txt file in Notepad, and under the Format menu, uncheck Word Wrap.

10. Start ArcMap.
11. If necessary, set up the DNC production environment.
12. Click the NTM Parser button on the Nautical DNC toolbar.

    The NGA to NTM Parser dialog box appears.

13. Click Browse and navigate to the file you downloaded in step 9.

    The Output NTM file text box is automatically populated with a path and file name. You can change the path and rename the file if you want.

14. Click OK.

When parsing completes, the NTM Parser dialog box appears. It displays the location of the output and log files and if any errors occurred.