Google Maps Enhance Ocean Images

Google Maps Enhance Ocean Images - WSJ.com.  Good news for Ocean lovers, Google Inc. added imagery for the ocean floor to its popular 3-D mapping service Google Earth, which allows users to browse satellite images of the Earth’s terrain.

Google executives announced the enhancements at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, highlighting partners ranging from the U.S. Navy to National Geographic. The partners contributed data and tools to make the multiyear project possible.

Associated Press

Ocean mapping features of Google Earth 5.0 revealed in San Francisco on Monday.

The new version of Google Earth, which can be downloaded at earth.google.com, allows users to dive along reefs, explore the sea floor and view videos and images of sea creatures. It also includes details like advice on the best surf sports and logs of real ocean expeditions.

The features are a new step in Google’s efforts to help annotate the globe with a wide array of visual data, an extension of its efforts to categorize and search the world’s information. More recently, the Mountain View, Calif., search giant has been emphasizing the ways the service can help researchers illustrate scientific findings, such as those on the impact of climate change.

In an interview, John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, said Google envisions the new features as a “storytelling platform” for people interested in the oceans and related issues.

The undertaking also underscores Google’s continuing effort to get more third parties to build free tools and services within its 3-D world. Users can discover famous landmarks or journey through a theme park by searching for places and activities within the software. Companies and individuals continue to add their own features and markers for fun or to promote particular sights.

The new version of Google Earth also allows users to look at imagery from a particular location over time. At Monday’s event, former Vice President Al Gore demonstrated how that feature could be used to show the impact of climate change.

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