Introducing New Underwater Footage on Google “Ocean View”

This spectacular image of the underwater VW car above is from The Underwater Museum of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It was created back in 2009 by British artist Jason DeCaires Taylor shortly after the devastating Hurrican Wilma hit Mexico.

And this image above is just one of many that Google is now indexing in their add-on to the famous Google Street View called “Google Ocean View” (aka Google Street View Oceans“). Although “Google Ocean View” has been around for a couple of years in a fairly discreet form, Google just released a ton of new panoramic views of new reefs in celebration of “Earth Day” to really take these ocean views mainstream.

Why?

For one, less than 1 percent of humans have ever dived on a coral reef! So most people have no idea of the beauty, life, and splendor that coral reefs and wrecks contain. Google hopes to change that, and we couldn’t be happier.

What Google Ocean View Means For You

To begin, this should be a dream come true for lovers of the ocean…

If you fish, free dive, scuba dive, or just enjoy snorkeling in beautiful water, the ability to get on your computer and pre-explore areas (or just dream of exploring them one day) that you are going to visit soon is incredible. Not to mention, what a great way to see all of the life and amazing things that coral reefs have to offer without leaving your home.

Of course, scientists and underwater experts are certainly more excited than anyone, as this will help them study the reefs, see how these underwater ecosystems evolve over time, monitor how healthy certain reefs are, etc.

Google Street View

If you are anything like me, I use Google Street view all of the time. Reasons such as:

• To see what kind of office/office location a business has before I do business with them…
• To check on parking if I know I am going to a busy area with one-way streets
• To see where my client’s, out of state family, and others live
• And many of you have told me you use it for Airbnb to scope out the local host’s place before you stay anywhere (I have not done this yet)

So now with this addition of Google Ocean View, you will have the same power to explore and scope out reefs, check out where fish might be hiding in certain wrecks, see what kind of underwater habitat exists before you spend money and time getting there in a boat, etc.

Of course, Google is just getting started with this (they currently have documented and indexed 50 of the world’s most well-known underwater reefs/wrecks), so don’t expect every single inch of the ocean floor to be indexed just yet. But given enough time, I can imagine that you will be able to go Google View and explore almost any wreck or reef in the world… all from the comfort of you home with a few mouse clicks…

And you don’t even have to worry about getting the bends (Decompression sickness) from staying under too long.

A Few Amazing Images From Google Ocean View

These are just a few of my favorite screenshots from the newly updated Google Ocean View page. Of course, you can scroll around, change angles, zoom in, and do all of the things you would do on Google Street View!

Pretty awesome!

Make sure you check out what they have indexed here AFTER you watch the cool video below on how they are creating this amazing underwater footage with the help of Catlin Seaview Survey crew.

Note: Image Source: Google View Oceans

How They Create Google Ocean View [VIDEO]

Conclusion

For divers and anglers, Google Ocean View could be one of the coolest things Google has introduced since their ability to help anglers find fishing holes using the “Earth View” on Google maps to scout out any body of water.

Now that they are taking the view underwater, it adds a whole new layer of awesomeness.

Personally, I can’t wait to see where Google takes this, and how much of the ocean’s floor they will be able to index. I can only imagine they will have to rely on underwater videographers and photographers from around the country to help them index it… so get your camera’s ready folks!

P.S. – If you think your friends would find this cool, please share it with them – I’d really appreciate it.