March 3, 2025
New Reef Charts
March 3, 2025
The charts on this site have always been a pain to update. Starting with a spreadsheet of coordinates, converting DMS to decimal and then to pixel coordinates, then precisely placing markers in an image editor. Then generating a corresponding html image map for the links, and putting the whole thing in WordPress in such a way that WordPress doesn't simply eat it, as it is prone to do with a lot of things.
The charts on this post are drawn by a WordPress 'plugin' that I wrote that generates everything from a database. With a nice graphical/mathematical interface on the back-end, I can dispense with all the bother above. I originally wrote the plugin for something else, but I kept thinking how useful it would be here. But the situation here is a lot more complicated than I figured a reasonably simple program could handle.
I took a shot at it anyway, and much to my surprise, the resulting upgraded plugin does a fine job. With the new charts, I can easily alter the scale, and by enlarging the charts and shrinking the labels, everything fits. On over 30 charts, there are only one or two spots that would benefit from hand-tweaking, and I'm just going to ignore them.
But that's just for the artificial reefs, the big charts are far too complicated to do except by hand. Which is fine, because they almost never need to be updated - ships just don't sink very often any more, so there is almost no need to update them. The reef charts on the other hand are updated annually, although not as much as in years past. I have about half a dozen additions to make that I have been putting off, and now it will be easy.
The chart above can be zoomed and panned, but I have turned that off for the rest. The new charts are actually sharper than the old ones, with nice link effects that match the rest of the website. I was expecting to abandon this project as unworkable, instead it is an improvement all around. Now to get to the updates I've been putting off.
And thanks again to all my generous donors - web hosting is not getting cheaper.
Rockaway Artificial Reef
Atlantic Beach Artificial Reef
McAllister Artificial Reef
Hempstead Artificial Reef
Fire Island Artificial Reef
Moriches Artificial Reef
Shinnecock Artificial Reef
12-Mile Artificial Reef
Yellowbar Artificial Reef
Kismet Artificial Reef
Smithtown Artificial Reef
Matinecock Artificial Reef
Sandy Hook Artificial Reef
Sea Girt Artificial Reef
Shark River Artificial Reef
Manasquan Artificial Reef
Axel Carlson Artificial Reef
Barnegat Light Artificial Reef
Garden State North Artificial Reef
Garden State South Artificial Reef
Little Egg Artificial Reef
Great Egg Artificial Reef
Atlantic City Artificial Reef
Ocean City Artificial Reef
Townsend Artificial Reef
Wildwood Artificial Reef
Deepwater Artificial Reef
Cape May Artificial Reef
Delaware Bay Artificial Reef
Delaware #9 Artificial Reef
Delaware #10 Artificial Reef
Delaware #11 Artificial Reef
DelJerseyLand inshore Artificial Reef
DelJerseyLand offshore Artificial Reef
