Google to launch under water street maps

Google has launched a new project that will map underwater, starting with Sydney Harbour. The Google divers have started filming footage under the harbour as well as the waters around Bondi and Manly beaches.

Google believe that the footage will reach a staggering one billion people as the footage will show case the nature of the sea such as the plants and animals.

Emma Johnston, from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, said the project will provide a scientific basis for looking at how the harbour is changing, as well as highlighting pollution she said "I think people will be surprised by the beauty and diversity of the harbour. We tend to think of the harbour as a monolithic and flat surface, but people will be blown away by what is happening underneath; the amazing kelp forests, underwater gardens of sea tulips and sponges and fish that they have never seen. The diversity of sea life is greater than any harbour in the world.

The downside of filming the harbour is that there is lots of rubbish and debris and it was noted that there was shopping trolleys, bathtubs and bicycles in one section of the harbour. The devices that the divers have strong electrical impulses that passes through the water which has attracted quite a few sharks into the filming area.

In hindsight to the rubbish there are some wreckages of ships both small and large which means the crew have to take over 1,000 video shots of the areas which are then analysed and edited to create the virtual dive for viewers.

One of the divers mentioned that the sharks make their dives more interesting as they tend to come right up to the cameras to check what is going on.

Google has completed similar projects on the great barrier reef and it is expected that underwater street view will be launched in November of this year.