Google has updated its virtual world mapping software, Google Earth, to include vast amounts of new imagery of  the earth's underwater regions along with new features to observe changes in satellite imagery over time and additional images of the planet Mars, the Mountain View, California-based Internet giant announced Monday. Google Earth 5.0, as the major new update has been called, culminated two and a half years of work that saw Google consulting with more than a dozen partnering organizations and institutions. Bringing New Ocean Data To Google Earth Users Prior to the Monday release of the new version, the free Google Earth software had focused primarily on helping users explore the world's above-water land masses through satellite imagery, while the approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface that is covered by water had little in the way of detailed visual information available. "We had largely ignored the oceans — two thirds of the planet," noted Google Earth and maps director John Hanke Monday. "We have always had a big blue expanse and some low-resolution shading to suggest depth. But starting today we have a much more detailed bathymetric map (the ocean floor), so you can actually drop below the surface and explore the nooks and crannies of the seafloor in 3D," Hanke said in a message posted on the Google blog Monday ahead of announcing Google Earth 5.0 at an event at the California Academy of Sciences. With downloads to more than 500 million computers since first offering the free software program to the public three years ago, Google Earth has become popular among researchers, students, vacationers, businesses and curiosity seekers, who combine to spend what Google estimates as one million hours each day exploring digital maps of the world. Historical Time Lapse And Virtual Tours Added To Google Software Update Hanke, the co-creator of the software upon which Google Earth was formed before it was purchased by Google in 2004, said that Monday "marks the moment when Google Earth becomes much more complete — it now has an ocean," and a new way to explore underwater environments that scientists believe contain almost 80 percent of life on the planet. In developing the new 5.0 version of the mapping software Google had help from the United States Navy, the National  Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, National Geographic, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the BBC, Scripps Oceanography, and according to Google "explorer-in-residence" Sylvia A. Earle, of National Geographic, "numerous ocean institutions and organizations." The upgraded version of Google Earth was available for download Monday, including new "videos and images of ocean life, details on the best surf spots, [and] logs of real ocean expeditions," according to Henke. New business versions of Google Earth, known as Google Earth Pro and Google Earth Enterprise, were also released Monday according to a message posted by Google Earth Enterprise product manager Bryan Atwood. The ocean maps in Google Earth 5.0 included 20 new content layers from more than 100 partner organizations, each of which could be turned on or off separately to show a variety of written and video information from ocean researchers. Google Reveals Ocean Imaging In Vast Google Earth 5.0 Upgrade Layers included information on shipwrecks, water temperature and marine life census statistics, for example, Earle wrote in a message posted Monday to Google Latitude Longitude blog. The addition of a new historical imagery feature has allowed Google Earth users a way to view physical changes  in the earth by comparing satellite images from today with those from the past. Former U.S. vice president Al Gore was at the Monday San Francisco launch of Google Earth 5.0, an upgrade he said was a "magical experience." The upgrade also added the ability to record and share virtual tours of both undersea and land-based regions with the software. "Create an easily sharable, narrated, fly-through tour just by clicking the record button and navigating through your tour destinations," Hanke noted in the Monday announcement message. Expanded imagery of the planet Mars was also included in the new version of Google Earth, including detailed three dimensional images. Related Links:
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