Environment

Google Earth will feature undersea landscapes

by amyjudd | October 8, 2008 at 10:20 am

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Google Earth will be adding a new feature - undersea landscapes. These will include the habitats of threatened species that everyone with the program will be able to look at and explore.

The new project will encompass video streams, photos and stories from marine protected areas all over the world.

Natural England has contributed information from about 43 marine sites around the UK, that offer protection to endangered species, such as the basking shark, seahorses, corals and algae.

Lundy Island will be a big feature on the new system. The island, off the North Devon Coast, is England's only statutory marine reserve, where disturbing the marine life is banned and it is somewhere all marine life have the chance to thrive.

Dr Helen Phillips, Natural England's chief executive, said she hoped the new Google Earth feature would bring the marine environment to life and raise awareness of the need to conserve and enhance it.

She said: "There needs to be a change in attitudes towards protecting our oceans. The diversity of marine wildlife around England's coastline is exceptional; we have everything from whales through to microscopic phytoplankton.

"But we need an enhanced marine protection system to help conserve our undersea environment."

The new site was launched today at the Conservation of Nature's world conservation congress in Barcelona.
Users of Google Earth will be able to select an geographical area, topic, or organisation and then learn more about it through photos, videos and blogs from various organizations.

Google Earth is a virtual globe giving users a bird's eye view of any place in the world using pictures taken from satellite imagery and aerial photography.

Since the technology was bought by Google in 2006, it has enhanced it with 3D technology to view places such as the Grand Canyon in 3D and has recently added street view, which takes the viewer onto street level.