Summary: Google has taken the plunge
with its Street View technology and begun capturing 360-degree panoramas
of coral reefs around the world, in partnership with a scientific
survey.
Google Maps has shown off its latest enhancement — a series of underwater panoramas in select places around the globe.
Announced on Tuesday, the underwater vistas comprise six sites of marine interest:
Wilson Island, Heron Island and Lady Elliot Island in Australia's Great
Barrier Reef; Hawaii's Hanauma Bay and Molokini crater; and the
volcanic reserve of Apo Island in the Philippines.
"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," Brian McClendon, VP of Google Maps and
Earth, said in a blog post.
Above, a turtle is captured off Heron Island in Australia.
Google teamed up with the Catlin Seaview Survey, which is sponsored by the UK-based insurer Catlin Group, to produce the new images.
The
Survey used its custom-built SVII camera to photograph the 360°
panoramas, which capture turtles, fish and manta rays in their natural
environment. The camera, one of only two in the world, takes pictures
every three seconds while travelling at around 4kph. The resulting
images are stitched together digitally. The underwater panoramas will
eventually comprise 50,000 images, according to the Survey.
Users can zoom in on the ocean views, although you can't yet 'walk' around, unlike in Google Street View.
Above, divers bob in the sea above Molokini Crater in Hawaii, a partially submerged volcanic crater and popular diving spot.
Above, the camera bobs just below of the surface of the sea at Wilson Island in Australia.
Data
gathered from the dives will go into a public database called the
Global Reef Record, according to the Catlin Seaview Survey. "The Global
Reef Record is a game-changing scientific tool that scientists around
the world will have at their fingertips. They will be able to monitor
change in marine environments now and in the future," Professor Ove
Hoegh-Guldberg, the project's lead scientist, said in a statement.
Above: the knobbly seabed landscape of Apo Island in the Philippines, home to more than 400 species of coral.
Google's
Brian McClendon described the underwater panoramas as "the next step in
our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate and
usable map of the world"; possibly a veiled dig at rival Apple, which
has taken flak for errors and odd imagery in its new mapping service for iOS 6.
Google has certainly been driving its Street View technology into new areas in the last few years. In 2011, Google Art Project
photographed the interiors of some of the world's biggest art
galleries, allowing people a close-up look at famous paintings from
their armchairs. It has also announced plans to use its Street View tech
to snap the interiors of shops and restaurants.
The ocean images are unlikely to run into the same sort of complaints over invasion of privacy that met the original Street View service, unless scantily clad snorkellers and aggrieved fish take exception.
