Google Maps Expands Its Street View To Include The Ocean

Google Maps is more than just a great way to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, it's also a great way to pass the time (or lose an hour without even realizing it) when factoring in the Street View, which allows us to take virtual tour of various places across the world from a ground view. Until now, those street viewers were restricted to land, but it appears Google has plans to change that. Google Maps is headed for the ocean!

Google Maps posted the following video, which announces their partnership with the Catlin Seaview Survey and induces their first underwater Street View collection.

Google Maps strives to provide people around the globe with the most comprehensive, accurate and usable map of the world - including the underwater world. This ocean collection includes six of the world's most incredible underwater spots, including coral reefs (and their inhabitants) in Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii. This imagery is available to millions of people through the Street View feature of Google Maps and in our Street View Gallery at: maps.google.com/ocean.

That's right, ocean dwellers! You thought you were safe from Google's prying eye? Think again! The turtle caught on camera in the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island is my favorite shot from what I've seen so far:

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Makes me think of Finding Nemo's Crush!

Check out more of Google's under-water "Street View" tours here.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly put her life-long love of movies, TV and books to greater use when she joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006, and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before joining the staff full-time in 2011 and moving over to other roles at the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing features, analyzing site data, working with writers and editors on content planning and the workflow, and (of course) continuing to obsess over the best movies and TV shows (those that already exist, and the many on the way). She graduated from SUNY Cortland with BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Cinema Studies. When she isn't working, she's probably thinking about work, or reading (or listening to a book), and making sure her cats are living their absolute best feline lives.