Marine electronics manufacturer Garmin has expanded and enhanced high-resolution relief shading coverage to its Garmin Navionics Vision+ marine cartography service. 

Combining colour and shadow, Garmin says relief shading gives mariners an easy-to-interpret, clearer view of what’s below the surface than contour lines alone. The service is now available on more than 40,000 additional lakes.

Available as an accessory card or download for compatible Garmin chartplotters, Garmin says its Navionics Vision+ service gives boaters, anglers and divers access to an exclusive relief shading overlay.

Relief shading is available for many new coastal and inland waters, including lakes and rivers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re constantly updating and improving our Garmin Navionics marine cartography to provide the widest range of coverage with unrivalled detail for our customers,” says Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of Global Consumer Sales. “Relief shading brings an entirely new level of detail to the ocean floor and lake bottom to help in locating underwater structures, artificial reefs, underwater shelves and more – and we’re excited to bring this kind of detail to even more customers around the world.”  

Garmin Navionics Vision+ premium charts’ new colour palette and image quality promises a clear image of bottom detail that uncovers promising fishing spots, navigation channels and more. Multiple shading options aid in shallow water navigation, making it easier to choose depth ranges when searching for fishing spots. Garmin says numerous wrecks were targeted for enhancement to assist anglers and divers identify more precise spot-on-the-spot locations.

The relief shading feature must be downloaded via the ActiveCaptain app available on Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Mariners can wirelessly connect their smart device to a compatible Garmin chartplotter to start the automatic transfer. The updated content is available for new and existing customers as part of their marine chart subscription.

The post Garmin enhances marine mapping service appeared first on Marine Industry News.