In order to distribute the processed information (charts, directions, notices, and such) these organizations often developed specialized printing capabilities.
Hydrographic tasks in Australian waters were performed by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy since the 19th century.
In addition to significant hydrographic data holdings (single & multibeam), CHS operates 78 permanent water level stations, a real time water level and forecast system in the St. Lawrence River, and participates in the operation of Atlantic & Pacific tsunami warning systems.
Since 1874, the Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service ("SHOA", as acronym of"Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada") has been the Chilean official authority on drawing and publishing nautical charts of the South Pacific Ocean for Military and Civil navigation.
[1] In France, the first official organization, the French Dépôt des Cartes, Plans, Journaux et Mémoires Relatifs à la Navigation, was formed in 1720.
The "Bundesamt für Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie" (BSH) is the German federal hydrographic office.
Its first nautical chart was issued in 1909 and in 1919 the Hellenic Navy became a founding member of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
The INtegrated Mapping FOr the Sustainable Development of Ireland's MArine Resource (INFOMAR) programme is a successor to the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS) and concentrates on creating a range of integrated mapping products of the physical, chemical and biological features of the seabed in the near-shore area.
The programme is being funded by the Irish Government through the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources as part of the National Development Plan, 2007 – 2013 [11].
Data are passed on to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) for subsequent production of nautical charts.
Established in 1956 and governed by the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, Sjöfartsverket is responsible for most aspects of safe navigation in Sweden.
This includes maintenance and marking of fairways, surveying and charting Swedish waters, pilotage, search-and-rescue (in cooperation with other organisations), ice-breaking, and safety inspections.
Royal Navy charts and the related surveys were reputedly officially started as a result of the loss of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell on an uncharted reef off the Scilly Isles which happened in October 1707 (see main article Scilly naval disaster of 1707).
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is now a part of the Ministry of Defence rather than a naval department and is located in Taunton, Somerset, near Creechbarrow hill.
[3] In the United States, the Survey of the Coast (America's first scientific agency) was established through an 1807 Congressional resolution and signed into law by President Jefferson.