20,000 Leagues Under the Sea available with Google Ocean!

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We knew the Google Cars responsible for taking photos of the streets worldwide, now the technology is revolutionizing the world by photographing the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Managed by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the scientist team aims at capturing the 2,600 km of the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coasts. By September 2012, around 50,000 coral reef panoramas should be published on Google Earth and users could also be able to watch videos via YouTube. In collaboration with the Catlin Seaview Survey, it will allow explorers or just curious people to explore seabeds as part of the new Seaview project. Divers will be using specially-designed squid-like robot cameras to dive into the deep-water reefs, travelling at a speed of 4 km/h, and taking 360-degree, geo-tagged panoramas every four to six seconds.

The link with tourism? Here it comes. Tourists, from their very own house, sitting in their conformable armchairs and totally dry, will be able to admire the deep ocean without any charges. And, even more than providing free virtual excursions, the Seaview project will allow people who were not physically (children, handicapped person,..) or psychologically (aquaphobia) able to go underwater, to finally experience this unknown world. Moreover, what will give exclusivity to the experience lies in the fact that cameras will go deeper than any human could physically goes underwater, meaning that the real unknown would be unveiled to the worldwide Google users. Finally, by offering the opportunity to make virtual visits, the project would contribute directly to the Reef and Coral protection and preservation. Indeed, it would allow a better tourism management, by reducing the number of mass tourists for instance. And everyone knows how much tourists can impact dramatically on the environment, in reference particularly to Caribbean and Philippines Corals.

But do you think that virtual tourism can replace the physical experience in that specific case? In other fields? Please give your opinion.

Source: Kruger, L. (2012, February 23). Google Street View To Reveal Great Barrier Reef [PICS]. Retrieved February 29, 2012, from 2 oceans vibe: http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2012/02/23/google-street-view-to-reveal-great-barrier-reef-pics/

Keywords: Great Barrier Reef, Google Earth, Seaview, panoramas