Garmin launches Quickdraw Community
Garmin has launched its Quickdraw Community, a free online user-generated platform where users can share and browse HD mapping content, and download the data free of charge to enhance and supplement existing Garmin mapping options.
The Quickdraw Community builds on the success of Garmin’s Quickdraw Contours software feature – a free, easy-to-use tool that lets boaters instantly create personalised HD maps with 30cm contours on any body of water. While joining the online community is not compulsory, it provides the opportunity for users to easily and quickly share and upload the best data available.
Quickdraw Contours comes as standard in the 2016 echoMAP CHIRP range, and is available as a free software update for other echoMAP and many GPSMAP series products. It can be used with any transducer, including Garmin Panoptix, HD-ID, DownVü and NMEA 2000 transducers.
Creating Quickdraw Contours data is powerfully simple. Once it’s turned on, users will instantly see contours with labels generated right on the screen as the boat moves – there’s no waiting around or sending in the files for remote processing, nor is there a fee to keep the data private or to share it with other people.
The results are instant and accurate, and can be viewed in real-time, or created in the background for use at a later time. For the most comprehensive coverage, Quickdraw Contours clearly shows where usable depth information has been collected and where gaps exist, so users can easily see what still needs to be collected.
Not only is Quickdraw (Contours and Community) free and easy to use, but thanks to Garmin Panoptix all-seeing sonar technology, it’s the only map-sharing platform to use multi-beam sonar recordings for high-quality, accurate and complete HD contours.
The collected data can be stored on any off-the-shelf SD or microSD card, as well as existing Garmin BlueChart g2 and BlueChart g2 Vision cards, or on AU/NZ TOPO chart cards for the best mapping/charting detail of inland lakes/impoundments, rivers and creeks.
To upload, download or browse collected Quickdraw Contours data, users will need to create an account through Garmin Connect – a free online community already utilised by millions of Garmin customers who use the platform to share, track, and analyse data from other Garmin devices.
Data can be uploaded through a ‘Marine Profile’ in Garmin Connect. Once uploaded, it will typically be available on the web for download within 24 hours. With the intuitive map interface, users can easily locate and see the data shared by other users within the community overlaid on the applicable body of water.
Available user-generated data can be easily downloaded from Garmin Connect to an SD/microSD card for use with a compatible Garmin chartplotter, and can be viewed simultaneously with a user’s personal Quickdraw Contours data.
The Garmin Quickdraw Community on Garmin Connect is available at: garminconnect.com/quickdraw
