Marine Glossary

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Defense Mapping Agency

An agency of the US Defense Department which is responsible for producing marine charts and publications pertaining to areas outside of US waters. Officially called the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/Topographic Center, in this course we abbreviate it DMA. Government agencies have the unfortunate habit of changing their names every 5 years or so. At least two major agencies related to weather services have changed their names since we started work on this program.

Examples of DMA publications available to the general public include: Sailing Directions; Planning Guides, American Practical Navigator (Bowditch); List of Lights; and charts of foreign waters.

Charts and publications pertaining to US waters are produced primarily by National Ocean Service (NOS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is in the Department of Commerce. The US Coast Guard also issues publications for US waters pertaining to aids to navigation.

Note: The DMA "List of Lights" is similar to the Coast Guard "Light List." Both publications list aids to navigation (buoys, lights, etc.). The Light List covers US waters and the List of Lights covers foreign waters.