“BlueChart g2 propels Garmin’s award-winning line of charts into the 21st century,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “This new line of cartography has an amazing range of features and functions – all at a price that is significantly less than comparable electronic charts.”
The new BlueChart g2 has a much smoother presentation on the plotter display, because the charts are electronically layered. It has all the detail of traditional BlueChart, but with additional functions like an optional 3D perspective, and tides and currents overlaid on the chart. Additional enhancements include general coastal road detail, marine services information, and improved IALA navigational symbols. Other chart features include shaded depth contours, port plans, wrecks, restricted areas, and more.
All of these elements of BlueChart g2 technology for the coastal United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) are built-in on Garmin’s new GPSMAP® 492 and GPSMAP 498 chartplotters, as well as its new large-display GPSMAP 3200 series and GPSMAP 2200 series of chartplotters.
BlueChart g2 is also available on pre-programmed data cards, featuring additional data like highly detailed coastal roads and points of interest such as restaurants, lodging, local attractions and more. Full-color aerial photos of ports, marinas, bridges, and navigational landmarks are also included on many data cards. Photography coverage will initially be available for the east coast of the United States from Georgia through Maine, selected lakes in the Great Lakes region, and partial coverage of the west coast. The estimated retail price for U.S. data cards starts at $199 – far less than competitors’ data cards.
Boaters can purchase the data cards for use on Garmin’s newest generation of chartplotters, including the GPSMAP 292 and 298, the GPSMAP 392 and 398, the GPSMAP 492 and 498, as well as the GPSMAP 2100 series, GPSMAP 2200 series, and GPSMAP 3200 series. Current owners of the GPSMAP 3005C, 3006C, and 3010C can also use g2 data cards in their system. Although BlueChart g2 will not be compatible on earlier generation chartplotters, Garmin will continue to offer and support traditional BlueChart cartography. Likewise, the newest generation of Garmin chartplotters will support previous versions of BlueChart.
BlueChart g2 will be available for purchase on March 25, 2006. See www.garmin.com for more details.