Google Street View goes underwater

In an effort to raise awareness ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8, Google has expanded its Street View service to let users explore a range of stunning coastal and underwater scenes.

Just as Street View allows you to click to navigate across dry land, users can move around beneath the surface with interactive imagery taken from 40 sites around the world. The new locations added to Google's Street View database include Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Solomon islands complete with sea turtles and Bali's Crystal Bay, home to the huge Mola mola sunfish.

Google partnered with XL Caitlin Seaview Survey and Underwater Earth to compile the images over the last four years. It says the motivation behind the project was to record the environmental changes taking place in the depths of the ocean, which covers more than 70 percent of the planet's surface.

It also announced a number of new partners, with which it will look to gather more images to expand its underwater Street View program and better monitor events taking place in the ocean. These include the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Reef Check Foundation and conservation group Blue Ventures.

The video below explains the project further.

Source: Google