This article describes the various methodologies used from time to time for portraying the geographical details of the earth's surface pertaining to the seas, coastal areas, and features of the seabed for general marine applications. For a long time the geographical information pertaining to the sea and the coastal water bodies was recorded on paper chart, on a miniature scale, for ready use by the mariners for marine navigational applications, and therefore the chart came to be known as "nautical chart". The article skims through the various aspects of safety of navigation such as nautical charts created by the Arabs in the medieval days of stellar navigation in the Indian Ocean; the contributions by the Chinese, the British, and the Portuguese; hydrographic surveying; chart projection schemes; the role of radio and satellite-based position-fixing systems; the technology of the modern electronic nautical charts; and applications of computers in modern navigation. The article also peeps into possible future developments in electronic nautical charting.