The new 'Explore the Ocean' layer contains information on 11 'hotspots' around the world, including Galapagos, the Hawaiian Islands, the Antarctic and our very own Great Barrier Reef. The information on the Great Barrier Reef was developed with the help of our friends at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS).
Professor David Bellwood of CoECRS and James Cook University shared his thoughts with us on the importance of the drawing attention to the world's ocean.
"The oceans are out of sight, and out of mind. Only fishermen, scientists, tourism operators and the like really see what is happening, day to day. Our hope is that, through the medium of the internet, millions of people – young people especially – will now be able to develop a better feel for what is happening to our oceans, and maybe will be inspired to visit them and see for themselves. The Great Barrier Reef attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world every year. Thanks to Google Earth it will now receive millions more virtual visitors – many of whom will hopefully decide it is well worth a real visit."
Back in October we worked with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to provide map data and updated satellite imagery of the islands, reefs, cays and rocks of the park and make them available in Google Maps. Their chairman and chief executive Russell Reichelt sees this new development as hugely valuable in helping them continue to educate the public about this remarkable place, presenting its natural wonders to everyone from school children to scientists.
But Ocean in Google Earth is not all we've launched today.
Until today, we were only able to offer one snapshot of a given place in Google Earth. With the new Historical Imagery feature, you can now move back and forth through years of satellite and aerial imagery, experiencing the development of a place over time. We've also added a Touring feature, making it simple to create a narrated tour just by clicking the record button and flying to your first destination
And last but not least, 3D Mars is the latest stop in our virtual tour of the galaxies. By clicking a button in Google Earth you can see high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain of the red planet's surface and more.
For those of you who keep track of version numbers, this is Google Earth 5.0. Why did we skip from 4.3 to 5.0? Because this update literally brings new depth and dimension to Google Earth, and we thought that was a pretty big deal.
Members of the Google Earth team will be publishing in-depth posts about all of the new features in Google Earth 5.0 on the Lat Long blog all week, so be sure to check back there often.
