February 2nd, 2009 
Today is the day of a long awaited event in San Francisco, with repercussions for Google Earth users around the globe. How do I know? My professors are not in their office. They’re off hobnobbing in California. Marine scientists are gathering at California Academy of Sciences for the launch of what folks are calling “Google Ocean”. The Guardian UK reports the media launch in today’s news.
According to the Guardian, there’s even a new plug-in coming that combines Google Earth and Wii Fit into a new interface called “Earth Surfer”. Are you ready to catch the wave? Frank Taylor, who catalogs the development of Google Earth at gearthblog.com, says
“I don’t think this announcement will be confined to just Google Ocean, …. When Google makes an announcement like this, they always try to push the envelope on multiple fronts. And, with Al Gore headlining the event, I’m sure we’re going to get some data about the environment.”
Insiders are telling Deep Sea News “watch NBC Nightly News tonight.” We obviously don’t pay them enough. Pictures! We want pictures!!
Ocean is on the new version, just downloaded from the site. It includes submarine terrain so you can fly around underwater, but interestingly they put the ocean surface on it so you can only see that submarine terrain in 3D once you go below the surface. Lots of new data layers, including surf spots, via Wannasurf.com, Dive sites, shipwrecks, MPA’s and lots more. WEEEEEEEE!! Have fun!
[...] I mentioned earlier, insiders are telling Deep Sea News to “watch NBC Nightly News tonight.” We obviously don’t [...]
How does google ocean work–where do they get the pictures from?
The seafloor bathymetry is not pictures so much as data derived from measurements of seafloor gravity and sea surface height. The images and video in the Oceans layer are from many many different resources. Lots of people chipped in data, videos, pictures, stories, and coordinates, etc…
there’s even a new plug-in coming that combines Google Earth and Wii Fit into a new interface called “Earth Surfer”
I have so far successfully resisted Wii but I think this might tip me over the edge.
cool, also check out:
http://www.jaiderbertoli.com/blog/11-tech/27-google-earth-now-includes-undersea-view