Google to Launch 'Google Ocean'!

Google gave us in depth look of our planet through Google Earth, gave us a good look at the sky through Google Sky and now Google has delved below sea level with Google Ocean. According to Cnet Google has been in discussions with oceanography experts in an effort to create a 3D oceanographic map. This tool would be quite similar to other available 3D online mapping applications.

The tool which has been christened as Google Ocean, will display underwater topography, search spots of interest and will also be equipped with 'zoom' and 'pan' making it easier to navigate. Tim Haverland, a geospatial application developer at the Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said, “There is no real terrain or depth model for the ocean in Google Earth. You can't get in a submarine and in essence fly through the water and explore ocean canyons yet.”

At present Google Ocean will use a basic layer depicting the depth of the sea floor. Google is also planning to add high resolution images for enhanced details. Data such as weather patterns, currents, temperatures, shipwrecks, coral reefs, and algae blooms will be shown as overlaying layers. It would be quite like the data that is being provided by National Park Service and NASA Google Earth and Google Sky.

Stephen P. Miller, head of the Geological Data Center at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said, “Google will basically just provide the field and then everyone will come flocking to it. There will be peer pressure to encourage people to get their data out there."

Dave Sandwell, a professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography commented, “It would take about 100 ship years to map the oceans at high resolution." Sandwell expects that Google will be able to gather some amount of data from Scripps' Predicted Depth Map. Furthermore, there is a possibility of Google using high-resolution grids from oceanographic institutions which would display the depths of certain selected areas of the sea.

According Stephen Miller, “We hope that one of the outcomes of Google Ocean will be an understanding of how much remains to be explored. We know far more about the surface of Mars from a few weeks of radar surveying in orbit than we know of the bottom of the ocean after two centuries."

This project is considered as a wish come true for marine enthusiasts, amateur oceanographers and also poses great potential for more collaboration and advanced

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