Google Announces Google Sea, like Google Maps
Google's The Deep Blue Sea on ScubaMagazine.net
February 3rd, 2009
Google dove into the sea on Monday by releasing an updated 3-D mapping service that lets users explore the ocean as if they were dolphins, swimming past submerged volcanoes and through underwater canyons.
The enhanced Google Earth, available for download at earth.google.com, offers everything from photographs and videos of sea life to models of shipwrecks to water temperature data collected from buoys. Dozens of partners - including the National Geographic Society, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Oceanographic Institution - contributed information to the project, which is aimed at fostering learning, promoting conservation and, no doubt, increasing Google's popularity.
By plunging underwater, Google is adding a new dimension to Google Earth, which previously showcased only the terrestrial world. Premiered four years ago, it was probably best known as a tool for users to get a bird's-eye view of their homes and to peep on their neighbor's backyards.
The omission of the liquid two-thirds of the planet prompted Sylvia Earle, the former chief scientist at NOAA and noted oceanographer, to quip once that Google Earth should be renamed "Google dirt." On stage Monday at a Google kickoff event at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences, she declared the enhanced version a "fantastic new rendition of the earth."
In addition to highlighting the undersea realm, Google Earth's updates allow for a close-up view of Mars. Zooming in on the craters on Mars and gawking at photographic panorama of a rock-strewn wasteland around the Mars Pathfinder are just some of the potential diversions.
Back on Earth, users also can get access to historical images that make before-and-after comparisons possible, providing a look at how a city like San Francisco has changed as viewed from the air. Former Vice President Al Gore, now known for his environmental activism, highlighted the Grinnell Glacier in Montana for the audience of Google executives, partners and press, starting with aerial image from 1991 and then showing subsequent photographs in which the ice field dramatically shrinks in size.
"My hope is that people around the world will use Google Earth to see for themselves the reality because of the climate crisis," said Gore, who also serves as a Google adviser.
Ocean in Google Earth, as the water-focused initiative is called, is among the many layers on Google Earth. Users can choose which information to superimpose on the planet by checking boxes next to the layers listed on the screen.
With ocean layer selected, plus terrain, the sea appears as a shimmering sheet of waves. Zooming in allows users to dip beneath the surface and swim through a computer-generated world of undersea hills, plains and mountains.
The view isn't particularly detailed or colorful. Only by clicking on the various icons scattered across the ocean can a user get more in-depth information and imagery, such as one planted off the Farallon Islands that features a YouTube video of a great white shark attacking a seal.
Google Earth is compatible with computers that have Windows 2000, XP or Vista, along with relatively recent graphics cards and sufficient memory. Mac users must have a Mac OS X 10.4.0 operating system or later.
In recent months, amid the gloomy economy, Google has been focusing on products that make money while cutting or stopping development on some of those that don't. Google Earth has no ads, although a souped up version of the service is available via subscription.
Peter Birch, product manager for Google Earth, agreed that a virtual exploration of the Mariana Trench probably isn't very advertising-friendly. But he said that adding ocean data helps promote Google's other mapping product - Google Maps - by drawing new users.
Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, a blog that covers the search industry, said that ramping up the science in Google Earth may allow Google to make greater inroads in schools. It also doesn't hurt in attracting new users, who may enter searches.
"Worst case - it's good PR," he said.
source: SFGate
