Google Earth To Show Ocean Floor

f1vlad writes "Google is expected to announce the addition of ocean floor imagery to its Google Earth project, which will complete digital representation of our planet. 'The existing site, to which an estimated 400 million people have had access, already includes three-dimensional representations of large cities around the world and includes images from street-level and aerial photography covering thousands of miles across Britain and elsewhere. The new additions to the website are expected to include views of the ocean, and portions of the seabed. They will also provide detailed environmental data that will enhance information about the effect of climate change on the world's seas and oceans.'"

Comments

Two words.

[AltGrendel]

Marianas Trench.
Can't wait to see how that looks.

in addition to shipwrecks...

[wisebabo]

There are some other sites that not everyone will be pleased will be in the public domain.

How about the locations of sunken nuclear subs like the Thresher and the Russian sub the Glomar Challenger went after? There are some nuclear warheads still down there!

Aren't there also a couple of nukes still "lost at sea" but with the approximate locations known?

Also, how about the plutonium in the Apollo 13 Lunar Module that was impacted in "the deep Pacific"?

My point is with rent-a-submersible services available (I guess from primarily, you guessed it, Russian vendors) it might be possible to pick up some dangerous things. In addition there are a few ecological sites (some "black smokers") that Oceanographers have been trying to keep secret to preserve them. Other than that, it seems like a great idea!

Re:in addition to shipwrecks...

[furby076]

These objects aren't just lost because they don't know where they are (satellites have been able to bypass the water for object detection for a while now). The problem with retrieving these items is the depth, or danger. So to retrieve these items you need to have advanced submarine technology...and if you have that, you probably have nuclear weapons. But even if you have that, submarines still cannot penetrate the deepest parts of our oceans, and even if they could --- how does a submarine wrap a hook on another object? It would need robotic arms (the pressure would kill a scuba diver). So while a potential issue, it is VERY hard/impossible to retrieve such objects with todays technologies.

10% coverage to start - I find that impressive

[Bearhouse]

"FTA: Although, so far, there has been only limited data collected about the sea floor, with just 10% of the habitat mapped at any useful scale for science..."

I wonder how is going to work, since I'm guessing they cannot really 'map' the bottom of the ocean in the same way they do surface objects. Satellites with radar, ships with sonar?

Stil, considering how vast the oceans are, even 10% coverage is pretty impressive.

This will backfire bigtime.

[tjstork]

The ocean is so large and so vast, that, if Google codes the images honestly, that, people will readily see that for the most part, the bottom of the ocean is generally unexplored, that measurements of deep waters are infrequent and not in very many areas. They will see a few tiny areas where things have been photographed extensively, but, those will be but small points on a very, very large map. All of this unknown will open up ocean climate claims to ridicule, as if, measuring a drop of water in the shallow end of the swimming pool can somehow categorize the whole thing.

Re:This will backfire bigtime.

[tjstork]

That's one of the points, to show people how little we know of the ocean

Oh, I agree that it could be that, and I also agree that we should be exploring the bottom of the ocean more, in fact, we ought ought to be monitoring it with a permanent deep sea measuring network.

Re:"street-level and aerial photography "

[Anonymous Coward]

In Google Maps and Google Earth, Massachusetts is all aerial photography, because the state pays for and supplies it under an open content (but perhaps not Open Content) license. If you zoom in on the northeast US, you can see Massachusetts very well defined from a pretty high zoom.

Re:Ooops.... This is what happens...

[fifedrum]

ha! the street view car that hit the deer, the accident occurred about 3 miles from my house. In their defense, there are thousands of deer roaming the area, so many that car deer collisions are a daily thing, and it's not at all uncommon to see a carcass on the side of the road.

The undersea stuff is interesting because it might give a top-down view of wrecks if the wreck is in shallow water.

Re:Well, there goes my plan

[Chyeld]

Since they just display the most recent imagery that their providers have, the issue isn't with Google but the fact that appearently no one considers your plot of land important enough to actually photograph. If you want an ego boost, find out how much it costs to charter one of the companies providing the aerial photography to do a fly by of your area.

Update the Land Imagery

[winjama]

I would be more impressed if they updated all of the above water land maps. I live in Belize and our imagery hasn't been updated in about five years. Dave

Re:Floating Garbage Islands in the Pacific Ocean

[RabidMoose]

Is it still flamebaiting, if those who would be baited are blocked?

Sigh...

[CobaltTiger]

Living in Iowa, I'm still waiting for my house not to look like a white blob. Random jungles and deserts already have better resolution than most of our state, and now it sounds like the sea floor will as well. I know Iowa isn't the biggest state out there, but can't we get a little love?