The Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire "Old Green Map" of 1967-2002 is a classic. Thousands of people over the years have collected them, used them, and, most of all, loved them. Why change a chart that has been so revered for over forty years?

In fact, the new design takes its cue from professional cartographer and founder Duncan Fitchet's Old Green Map design. A large part of the data, too, was taken from Fitchet's old data, but the appearance of the two charts is quite different. Why? A cartographer's examination of 14 features will tell a part of the story. If you are interested in charts and maps, read on. If you are really fascinated in MORE, click here!

In the mid-sixties, Duncan Fitchet used math to place all the buoys securely on the charts...all 700+ of them. Now, in 2009, all the buoys are placed on our chart by Global Positioning System (GPS) waypoints.

Starting in 2003, Marine Patrol employee Jim Beach, using his own GPS, his own boat, and on his own time, 'shot' the buoys, numbered them on paper, fixed their GPS readings, and offered the results to the Marine Patrol and to Sally Fichet. She made Jim's results part of her 3rd edition chart of Lake Winnipesaukee and the prototype editions of the other lakes in the group.

The result is that ninety-nine percent of the 700+ buoys on the Winnipesaukee chart are covered by numbers on the chart, as you can see from the previous illustration of Duncan Press buoys.

Now the buoys have individuality. For a full story of how the charts evolved, click here.