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Science Google Maps Goes Underwater
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - September 26, 2012 8:42 AM

18 comment(s) - last by bah12.. on Sep 28 at 11:19 AM

Underwater views of the Great Barrier Reef and more

Google partnered with The Catlin Seaview Survey to take Google Maps under the surface of the oceans. The result is something similar to Street View images, only rather than showing streets in your local city, the views are of the underwater wonders at locations in Hawaii and the Great Barrier Reef among others.

Google Maps now offers users the ability to go diving in the Maui Molokini crater or snorkel in Oahu's Hanauma Bay. The underwater images were made using a special one-of-a-kind camera called the SVII operated by divers who swam along a 4 km an hour to capture the footage. For now, imagery is limited and spots for you can view under ocean sights on Google Maps are identified with an orange circle.

That orange circle is revealed when the user drags the Street View icon on the map. The map does have to be zoomed in almost all the way for the circles to show, up making the under ocean views a bit difficult to discover.

Google wrote in an official blog post about the new underwater views, "Today we’re adding the very first underwater panoramic images to Google Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate and usable map of the world.

“With these vibrant and stunning photos you don’t have to be a scuba diver—or even know how to swim—to explore and experience six of the ocean’s most incredible living coral reefs. Now, anyone can become the next virtual Jacques Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish and manta rays in Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii."

Source: TechCrunch