Google Earth, 3D mapping of the Ocean Floor

(photo credit: tecnoartes.net)

Google has finally unveiled its new mapping tool, Google Ocean.

We had already become acquainted with it in one of my previous posts, when we discussed that a group of experts were undergoing 3D mapping tests of what has now been developed into Google Earth’s latest version which plots the entire underwater world for us.

Google has rolled out Google Earth 5.0 giving us the opportunity to explore what covers 2/3 of the entire globe, home to millions and millions of species.  The official presentation was held in San Francisco with guest speaker and avid enviromentalist, Al Gore, not bad for just a software presentation, wouldn’t you say?

He said,  “You can not only zoom into whatever part of our planet’s surface you wish to examine in closer detail, you can now dive into the world’s ocean that covers almost three-quarters of the planet and discover new wonders that had not been accessible in previous versions.”

The new tool will not only allow users to explore the most remote corners of the ocean floor showing all depth layers of the ocean, including currents, coral reefs , weather patterns, it will also provide you with a selection of videos and photos of the rarest marine creatures which can be tragged using special satellite tracking systems.

A complete map of the Mid Ocean Ridge, the longest ever underwater mountain range that stretches 30,000 miles,  is also available, plus some areas such as the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii are available in high resolution.

Historical images such as the melting of glaciers as well as shipwrecks can also be seen using Google Earth, whose latest version is downloadable for free from the Google Earth homepage.

View Google Earth video on YouTube.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Media News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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