Use Side-Scan View

Use this when

You want to review side-scan data as a single composite swath. Side Imaging view merges the port and starboard channels into one image — port on the left, starboard on the right — so you can read the full across-track picture at once.

Before you start

The recording must contain both a port side-scan channel and a starboard side-scan channel. If only one is present, the Side Imaging button is still accessible but the canvas will display a "Side-scan swath requires port + starboard channels" message instead of sonar data.

Switch to Side Imaging view

1. Click the Side Imaging button in the view mode group at the top of the viewer (the second icon from the left in the four-button toggle).
2. The viewer replaces the single-channel canvas with the merged port + starboard swath.

Navigate the swath

• Scroll vertically with the mouse wheel or by dragging the scrubber to move through time (pings run top to bottom).
• Zoom using the zoom controls on the left toolbar or the scroll wheel while holding the appropriate modifier. The viewer centers the default swath span on the current playhead position when you switch into this view.

What you should see

A vertically scrolling image with a faint cyan nadir line at the center. Returns from the port side appear on the left half; starboard returns appear on the right half. Shadows extend away from the nadir line. The playhead marker shows your current position.

If it does not work

• "Side-scan swath requires port + starboard channels" message — the loaded recording is missing one or both side-scan channels. Check the channel tabs; if SI Port or SI Stbd is absent, the file does not contain that data.
• Image appears only on one side — one channel loaded correctly but the other did not. Close and re-open the recording, or check the source file for corruption.
• Swath appears very compressed vertically — the zoom level is set low. Use the zoom controls on the left toolbar to increase the zoom, or reset zoom with the reset button (0).