New upgrades include free Social Map charts, blue-scale depth shading, metric & CHIRP options

Anglers and other boaters can now download free Insight Genesis Social Map charts for use on the water in their Lowrance, Simrad and B&G sonar/GPS chartplotters.

Once only a feature available in paid Premium Insight Genesis subscriptions, downloadable Social Map charts are now free to all subscribers, following a service upgrade earlier this month. Another free new feature is a dazzling contour color palette that displays Insight Genesis and Social Map charts on a chartplotter with the same blue-scale, depth-shading available previously only in online versions of the maps.

Additional upgrades include options to display all Insight Genesis maps in metric measurements on chartplotters – and the ability to toggle between metric and imperial formats – and to make maps with both High CHIRP sonar or the traditional 200 kHz signal.

“With our enhanced Insight Genesis offering, we are breaking the cartography mold,” says Navico CEO Leif Ottosson. “We now offer free high-quality mapping for multifunction displays with unparalleled options for recording data and creating unmatched contour charts. Plus with our premium service, advanced users have access to an unrivaled feature set and powerful chart attributes they are sure to love.”

In the video below — a sneak preview of a new web-TV series called “First, Biggest, Best!” — Bassmaster Elite Series pros Matt and Jordan Lee demonstrate how to find and catch fish using a free contour chart from Insight Genesis Social Map. (Article continues below the video player)

Alton Jones wins MLF round on hump found with Insight Genesis

Alton Jones won Elimination Round 3 of Major League Fishing’s 2015 Summit Cup by getting away from the crowd fishing visible cover and instead targeting offshore structure he found with an Insight Genesis contour map on a Lowrance HDS Gen 2 Touch chartplotter.

“I saw a good-looking spot on my Lowrance contours, on the GPS mapping, and found a little hump that was absolutely loaded with fish – the kind of school you dream about finding,” Alton said in an interview at the end of the Outdoor Channel’s broadcast of his MLF Round 3 victory on Messalonskee Lake in Maine.

That’s a pretty neat feat for an angler who was using a Lowrance HDS Gen 2 Touch unit for the first time.

“This is my first experience using this particular unit,” Alton confided in a pre-competition interview. “I’m really impressed with the contours I’m getting on the HDS 9.”

(Blog post continues below video player)

Bassmaster Classic Champ: Insight Genesis maps are highly detailed

Highly detailed contour charts, like Insight Genesis maps, help anglers catch more and bigger fish, says Lowrance Pro Team angler Randy Howell, a Major League Fishing competitor and the 2014 Bassmaster Classic champion.

“It makes a big difference to have the great mapping detail that you can get from Lowrance,” Howell says. “In your own lake that you fish a lot, you may be surprised at how much detail you may be missing out on” with inferior maps.