Google Street View has taken us trekking alongside Sherpas in the Himalayas聽and on sled-dog rides in remotest Canada. Now the company is expanding its immersive photo project's underwater offerings.
The famous Trekker聽camera backpack聽works well on land, but to聽capture聽underwater imagery Google contracts聽with seafaring organizations that employ聽special equipment. That includes the ocean-monitoring , NOAA鈥檚 ;聽and the island reserve, . The company on Thursday released聽images from聽more than 40 locations around the globe in celebration聽of World Oceans Day on June 8.
As with Google鈥檚 other special聽projects (memorable: zip-lining in the Amazon), the views are for more than just fun. 鈥淓ach image in Google Maps is a GPS-located digital record of these underwater and coastal environments, which can be used as a baseline to monitor change over time,鈥 , Google Ocean program manager. And, of course, they鈥檙e meant to inspire.聽So do your part and feast your eyes on our seven favorites.
Giant Ocean Sunfish (Mola Mola)
Captured off the coast of Bali, May 2015
Giant Parrotfish
Captured off the coast of Bali, August 2014
Humpback Whales
Captured off the coast of the Cook Islands
Coral Reef Bleaching
Captured in American Samoa
Sea Turtle
Captured near the Solomon Islands, May 2015
Shipwrecks
Captured in Aruba, May 2015
Ile du Sel Island
Captured in the Chagos Islands, February 2015