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New improved digital sectionals

F

FlyArmy

Well Known Member
I was on foreflight this morning and thought something looked different/better about the sectionals. A quick google search yielded some cool info.

"Effective 3 APR 2014, the Sectional Aeronautical, Terminal Area, and World Aeronautical Raster Charts are greatly improved. Instead of using scanned chart images, the new d-VC is created directly from our digital files, resulting in a crisper and brighter image with improved georeferencing. Thanks to helpful customer feedback, we have also improved the rendering of type and features."

More info here.
http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/vfr/
 
...and meanwhile in Canada

Our Canadian charts are still written on birch bark with a quill dipped in moose blood.

Rob
 
Wow

Sharp, clear, bright!

I'm seeing details I never saw before, even on a hardcopy map.
 
FlyQ EFB has them as well.
Notified by email

Seattle Avionics makes US and European plates and charts for more than 20 apps and devices as well as FlyQ EFB so charts and near and dear to our hearts. That's why we're so excited to introduce new ClearVue Sectionals.

Starting today, downloading Sectionals to FlyQ EFB, new SmartPlates and Charts, or any app/device that uses our sectionals such as Dynon or GRT, means seeing Sectionals like you've never seen them before.
 
Last edited:
Rob Erdos said:
Our Canadian charts are still written on birch bark with a quill dipped in moose blood.
Click to expand...
That's only what they make public. The originals are vector artwork that would scale beautifully just like the new FAA charts. It's just that the printers in Canada are all filled with trained hamsters with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink on their feet. Its the best we have.
 
AeroNav publishes the charts and just upgraded the format. Seattle Avionics makes it sound like they did something, but the base data comes with the new clarity directly from the FAA.

I don't know how many of the apps use Seattle Avionics vs. a direct derivative of the the AeroNav data.
 
Can anyone confirm whether the new raster charts appear on their Skyview screen with the new VFR chart capability?
 
I thought all the Canadian charts were scribed by David Thompson on a buffalo hide by firelight.
 
Can't wait to try these new charts out in the aircraft, they look great sitting on the couch with a beer in hand...
 
No improved resolution on Anywhere Map updates

Last night, I downloaded the monthly updates for my Anywhere Map. Unfortunately, the sectionals are still the same grainly format as in past downloads. Hopefully, Anywhere Map will soon use this improved format.
 
Whatever become of all the "hub bub" about the outrageous fees the Fed's were gonna charge for these?? Or does that come after we all get hooked on these beautiful charts and stop whinning?
 
Canadian charts

Hey Aerhed, might you be referring to Tom Thompson of the Group of Seven?
At any rate, you're right about the buffalo hide etc. Gotta love Nav Canada.......
Rick
#40956
Southampton, Ont
 
Well, that's disappointing. I downloaded a couple of the new FAA sectionals, and while they are definitely nicer to read, they aren't vector-based either.

They took ages to download, they're still just as large as the old ones. The PDF's are just bitmap images within a PDF, if you zoom in you still get blocky images. That's why they're still 40MB each. If they just made vector-based PDF's, the size would drop to 1/10 of that, and they would be a lot faster to load, pan, zoom, etc. And the FAA would save a boatload on bandwidth charges as people download them.
 
Garmin Question

I wonder if the the new digital charts will be available on the Garmin 796?
This would be a big improvement.
 
EFIS Screen Shots...

If anyone can post screenshots from some of the outstanding EFIS providers that serve this market (i.e., Dynon, AFS, GRT and Garmin) it would be great to see how these new sectionals actually look...:)
 
Just updated both of the nav programs on our Ipads-------Garmin Pilot brought up the new maps, but Sky Charts Pro did not.

Amazing to look at the two of them side by side and really see the difference.

Vastly better graphics for sure.

I hope Sky Charts gets on the ball soon, I find the program much easier to use than Garmin Pilot-----------but the new charts make Pilot the choice for me.
 
Agreed, although they look better having not been scanned from paper, it will be nice if the Apps can switch to using actual Vector format someday soon. As Snowflake mentioned, will be much quicker to download. Also, zooming in fully on Garmin Pilot shows a lot of anti-aliasing still.
 
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