About OpenBoatLaunch

OpenBoatLaunch is a free, open map and guide to the places you can put a boat in the water in the United States: trailer ramps, carry-in launches for canoes and kayaks, and other public water access. No paywall, no account, no sale of visitor data.

Where the data comes from

State fish and wildlife and natural resources agencies publish the launches they own or manage, and those lists decide what we call public. OpenStreetMap adds the exact position of each ramp and details agencies leave out, and names the lakes and rivers. A launch that appears only in OpenStreetMap is listed when OpenStreetMap shows it as open to the public and run by a government, or its name says it is a public launch; the rest wait for a person to check them.

Every launch page lists the records it was built from. The data was last rebuilt on October 14, 2026.

Closures and conditions

Launches close for the season, for low water, for construction and after storms. We show a launch as closed only when its agency says so, in the status field of its data or in a posted notice, and link to the source. Where an agency publishes no status, the page says so rather than guessing. Absence of a closure here does not mean a launch is open: check with the agency that runs it before you tow.

What comes next

• Photos of each launch, or of the water it sits on when nobody has photographed the ramp.
• Community: lake associations, paddling and fishing clubs, and what people say on Reddit and other social sites about each lake and river.
• Seasons and water levels for launches that close in winter or at low water.
• Marinas and other launches open to the public for a fee, clearly labelled.

Sources

• Connecticut DEEP state boat launches (car-top and carry-in) · Public record, no license stated (CT DEEP open data)
• Connecticut DEEP state boat launches (trailered) · Public record, no license stated (CT DEEP open data)
• Florida Boat Ramp Inventory (FWC) · Open data; credit to FWC-FWRI requested
• Maine public boat launches (Maine GeoLibrary) · Public use (Maine GeoLibrary)
• Massachusetts Office of Fishing and Boating Access sites · Public record (MassGIS), no license stated
• Michigan DNR Boating Access Sites · Public record; "no restrictions on use, reproduction, or distribution"
• Minnesota DNR Public Water Access Sites · Public data (MN Geospatial Commons), DNR disclaimer
• National Park Service points of interest (boat launches) · US federal government data, public domain
• New Hampshire Access Sites to Public Waters · Public record (NH GRANIT), no license stated
• OpenStreetMap · ODbL 1.0, © OpenStreetMap contributors
• Rhode Island Fishing and Boating Access (RIGIS, RIDEM) · Provided as is; acknowledge RIGIS and the producer (RIDEM) in derived products
• US Fish and Wildlife Service facility property (boat launches) · US federal government data, public domain (FWS no-liability disclaimer)
• USDA Forest Service recreation sites (boating) · US federal government data, public domain
• Vermont Fish & Wildlife Fishing Access Areas (ANR) · CC BY-SA 4.0, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources

License

The launch data is available under the Open Database License; it includes data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Written content is CC BY 4.0.