Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth


google ocean

The latest developments in Google Ocean

Google first released their 3D Ocean feature in Google Earth more than five years ago, and it’s something that has seen steady improvements over the years.  Here are some of the more interesting recent developments:

USS Mohawk, shipwreck by Trident Imaging

uss mohawk

(via + Google Ocean Program)

Catlin Seaview Survey & Google Ocean at the 2014 Economist World Summit

From Google themselves, here’s more of what they’ve launched with Underwater Earth recently:

We are happy to announce 7 new underwater street view collects off Monaco and Mexico, including whale sharks and coral reefs in partnership with Australian non profit partner Underwater Earth’s “Catlin Seaview Survey” and launched in honor of the Economist Ocean Summit, where Prince Albert II of Monaco dove below Rocher Saint Nicolas virtually using the new Liquid Galaxy videowall. We also released the first ever San Francisco shoreline imagery collected from the water in partnership with Marine Advanced Research by placing a Google trekker camera atop the stable autonomousWAM-V® USV robot. Underwater Earth aims to reveal the reefs with more to explore at maps.google.com/ocean.

There have been some amazing developments to Google Ocean over the years, and it’s only getting better. What’s your favorite feature so far?

Viewing the GEBCO Global Ocean Map in Google Earth

The bathymetry in Google Earth (the topography of the ocean floor) is something that has been gradually improving for years. Not counting the 3D ocean released in 2009, the bathymetry imagery has been improved a few times as well including an upgrade in 2009, and then again in 2012.

While the Google Earth bathymetry is quite solid, there are other sources that do an excellent job of presenting it as well. One of the best is GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans), who just released the third version of their map in a variety of formats.

gebco bathymetry

They offer massive PDF and GeoTIFF downloads of the map on their world map page, but they also offer it in a few formats that are preferable to people like us — Google Maps and a great downloadable KML file.

For more check out the full details and information on their website.

(via +Jenifer Austin)

The “underwater waterfall” of Mauritius Island

On the southwestern point of Mauritius is a crazy-looking phenomenon.  When viewed from the air (either in real life or in Google Earth) it appears to be an underwater waterfall!

underwater-waterfall

Of course, a real underwater waterfall isn’t possible but the actual answer is really quite fascinating.  An article on ScienceBlogs.com really digs into it, but the short version is:

What you’re witnessing, that looks like an underwater waterfall, is actually sand from the shores of Mauritius being driven via ocean currents off of that high, coastal shelf, and down into the darker ocean depths off the southern tip of the island.

To see it for yourself, check out the full article on ScienceBlogs or grab this KML file to fly there in Google Earth. [NOTE by Frank: Although Google has 3D bathymetry (underwater terrain), they don’t attempt to provide such data so close to shore. Also, I checked a nautical chart, and the area is not as deep as it appears (only 10-20 meters). So, the effect is an optical illusion. But, it does look cool!]

Google continues to improve their ocean map

In celebration of World Oceans Day this past weekend, Google offered up a sneak peek at some improvements that are coming to the ocean data in Google Earth.  Some of the examples they showed were quite impressive!

ge-ocean

Google has released major improvements to the ocean a few times in the past.  In January, 2009 they updated the aerial view of the ocean with more realistic imagery and followed that up a month later with the 3D ocean (as part of Google Earth 5) that we now enjoy.

This new data will take things even further, as Google is working with NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center and the University of Colorado CIRES program to help improve the quality of the ocean layer.  To help you dive into the new data, Google has created this KMZ tour to show you around.

(via +Google Earth)

Teaching about the ocean floor with Google Earth

Last month we showed you a creative visualization of the Parting of the Red Sea that MyReadingMapped had put together. They’ve also assembled a collection of files to help teach users about the ocean floor, while providing various charts and graphs to help explain things.

ocean.jpg

They’ve put together various resources to make this tool worthwhile, including a Google Map, a downloadable KML file and a blog post with more information.
Their original blog post is fairly old, but they’ve written a new one titled “Understanding the Ocean Bottom in Google Maps” that gives some great tips. They’ve also created a blog entry and video (below) that discuss the 342-foot tsunami in the Strait of Magellan in 1969.


(via Google Earth Hacks)