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Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

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Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#41

Post by Contero »

anonymous543 wrote: post #29

I might be missing something, but why is everyone so excited about this? If you want a great experience of the oceans and reefs out there, you could load up an HD video on YouTube of the Great Barrier Reef, and view something much more immersive. I'm a huge fan of street view, and I love being able to virtually drive to where I'm going, and find landmarks to help along the way, like for example, a large orange buildi…

Google maps allows you to find things you didn't know existed in the first place. I've often found myself spinning the globe and zooming down onto a remote island's beaches just to see what it looks like on another part of the world. Being able to zoom down even farther to actually see the coral reefs is a natural extension of that. It's about discovery.

It doesn't matter that information about X is available if you can't find out that X exists in the first place.

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#42

Post by reledi »

anonymous543 wrote: post #36
reledi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you could load up an HD video on YouTube of the Great Barrier Reef You can't control a video to see what you want to. You have some control with this underwater Street View. It's the same reason why I find Street View much more valuable than watching videos on YouTube of people driving.

Sure you can, here's an example. http://www.nimmobay.com/media/360-video/360-video-nimmo-bay-... Attach one of those to a diver at popular destinations. On Google maps, show a little video icon. Click the icon, watch, and look around as they swim the location. It's now easier to navigate, and gives you a better representation of snorkelling or diving in that area.

I was expecting a response like this, since I'm aware of these Immersive Media videos. But YouTube doesn't handle these type of videos (yet). They also don't let you control which direction you'd like to travel in.

Street View is more convenient as it offers the same 360 degree view as the Immersive Media videos yet more control like zoom and navigation.

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#43

Post by ccozan »

snogglethorpe wrote: post #34
dannyr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Street View goes on a road trip through California's national parks http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/street-view-goes-on-r...

What's sad, though, is that are there roads (and parking lots) in those places... The streetviews just sort of rub it in. :( A backpack-cam, on the other hand would be great, and give a much truer sense of what it's like to be out there in the middle of nowhere.

Well, here you are: http://www.togtech.com/trekker-google-streetview-camera-in-a...

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#44

Post by lclarkmichalek »

bennyfreshness wrote: post #18

the world is becoming so small, its great I guess but takes away from the mystery

And adds to it so much. At first glance, yes there is less of the world to explore, but there is suddenly so much more of the world to understand, and we've hardly touched the surface of that.

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#45

Post by draven »

stevenrace wrote: post #31
anonymous543 wrote: post #29

I might be missing something, but why is everyone so excited about this? If you want a great experience of the oceans and reefs out there, you could load up an HD video on YouTube of the Great Barrier Reef, and view something much more immersive. I'm a huge fan of street view, and I love being able to virtually drive to where I'm going, and find landmarks to help along the way, like for example, a large orange buildi…

I think it's important to map our (in the Global sense) undersea conditions over time. We hear a great deal about Global Warming - yet it's only the timelapse satellite imagery that concretes it for dismissive minds. The same can be said for coral reefs, rivers, etc. 'Coral bleaching' is a real problem and reflective of global weather events. Regarding #2 - In a more idealistic vision of 'Underwater Google Maps', the…

For the dismissive minds, the State of Flux online exhibition ( http://climate.nasa.gov/sof/ ) can have a great impact.

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#47

Post by Paul_S »

artursapek wrote: post #4
oscilloscope wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoom out, there are white arrows that appear in the middle-bottom of the screen. Click those to travel in that direction. It's kind of like a choose your own adventure.

Indeed. Wow. http://goo.gl/maps/uCnD2

Thanks for the link, the original link results in a graphic of gears turning forever and not loading anything.

Re: Great Barrier Reef underwater panoramas in Google Maps

#49

Post by davidw »

snogglethorpe wrote: post #6

haha, I can imagine the discussion in the google maps office. "Well, we've finished with all the planet's landmasses...can you make this thing waterproof?"

I'm waiting for them to do Venice, which is an hour down the... 'road' from here. It ought to be an interesting challenge, and extremely popular.
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