Google Maps Tackles The Underwater World With ‘Street View’
Soon, you'll be able to see more than streets on Google's Street View app.
Google is working with the U.S. government scientists on a project that will allow people to get a 360-degree view of underwater locations through its Street View app, writes Tech Times.
Scientists are using specialized fisheye lenses to capture underwater images including coral reefs for the special project.
The images available are currently concentrated in the Florida Keys, but the researchers are planning to document other marine sanctuaries from around the world in the upcoming weeks.
Some of the images are already available for viewing with Google Maps, Associated Press reported.
'This allows people who can't get underwater to understand what we mean by putting up a special preservation area around this particular spot,' Mitchell Tartt, chief of the conservation science division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office National Marine Sanctuaries, said in a statement.
To date, there have been 400,000 images captured from the Caribbean Sea and Australia.
The current project marks the first time the technology will be introduced into the United States, writes Tech Times.
The pictures captured from the U.S. waters will help scientists map the devastation caused by global warming, monitor changes in the ocean's temperatures and study the effect that natural disasters such as hurricanes pose on the coral reefs.
A camera that can cover up to 20 times more range than a conventional camera captured the images, writes Tech Times.
Catlin Seaview Survey and Google funded the project, which including the cost of training of six NOAA officers and camera equipment.
The project will most likely increase public appreciation of these overlooked marine ecosystems, but it will also aid in scientific research and preservation efforts.
The project partners plan to snap underwater candid photos across the globe - with the next stop planned in Southeast Asia.