Google Oceans

Shortly after the introduction of Google Earth, Google solicited the public for ideas on new mapping projects. I sent a request for bathymetric maps of the ocean. It must have been a popular request:

Google Oceans coming soon

The upgrade is expected to provide underwater topography, with a layer showing the depth of the sea floor. It will allow users to search for particular points of interest, such as famous shipwrecks.

This is huge news for anyone with a recent copy of Garmin's Mapsource program which can automatically download tracks to Google Earth. This should also allow bathymetric maps from Google Earth to be be uploaded to the Garmin units through third-party online services.

Cool, cool, cool! 

This will be cool!

might be easier than the hunt and peck method of finding terrain with a depthfinder.  Cant wait!

might be easier than the hunt and peck method of finding terrain with a depthfinder.  Cant wait!

Let's hope the level of detail is high enough for our purposes. There are a lot of Flemish Caps out there that I haven't fished yet.

very cool!!

I can see it now...some NCKA'er will be scuba diving and a Google mini-sub bristling with cameras will appear out of nowhere.  Be sure to wave for the camera, you could end up on Google! 

Should be coming out in a month or sooner....don't ask me how I know. I'm recently laid off

Unveiled today:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_11614425

Yep, the latest version of Google Earth (version 5.0) includes Google Oceans.   It's not quite what I expected, but on par with the rest of the Google Earth offerings.

I recently food this Google Maps Mashup however that incorporates finer grained NOAA charts as you zoom into an area.
http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/

You can even adjust the transparency level on the charts and view the underlying satellite images.  Hopefully Google Oceans will incorporate more stuff like this in the future.

Brian

I'm a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting clearly labeled honey holes.

But seriously, I was hoping for more near-shore detail. As it stand it won't be very useful down here.

Looks like a big ad for the Packards at least it shows the MPA boundaries