Ong Boon Kiat, Business Times 5 Feb 09;
SINGAPORE content providers and its Web community have been called to help make the Ocean tool on Google Earth - the Internet search giant's new tool to explore the world's seas - a success by filling it up generously with content.
'We hope that Ocean can be used as a canvas by Singapore's vibrant community of scientists, educators and curious travellers, who can fill in the blanks by contributing photos, video, data and other kinds of information to Ocean in the same way that they have in Google Earth,' said Derek Callow, head of marketing, Google South-east Asia.
Google Earth, a free application which provides maps and three-dimensional satellite images of locations around the world, has been instrumental in stirring up global interest in geospatial applications since its debut in 2005.
The Ocean tool, which went online on Tuesday as part of the latest version of Google Earth, is a marine version of the latter.
It lets users virtually dive beneath the water surface to explore 3D underwater terrain, as well as browse ocean-related content contributed by Google's partners and other Web users.
Two such partners - Protect Planet Ocean and wannadive.net - have created the first Singapore-related content with the Ocean tool, on Pulau Hantu, Labrador Park and the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Although there is limited content at the moment on display, the resources are expected to grow richer as users add and share their own content in the form of photographs, videos and articles.
Other locations where content have been created for include nearby Tioman in Malaysia, Boracay in the Philippines, the Great Barrier Reef, Monterey Bay, the Antarctic and the Patagonian Shelf.
Google's content partners at present include the BBC, California Academy of Sciences, Bishop Museum Hawaii and the Cousteau Society.
Google has been netting praise for this new tool this week. Some environmentalists have said it will lead to better protection for threatened marine species.
The tool has also impressed the European Commission, which is reportedly planning to hand over its data for use by the application.
'We hope to contribute to the growing awareness of our oceans, which cover over 80 per cent of the planet,' Mr Callow told BizIT.
'Whether Ocean will become a naval navigation tool is hard to tell as the product is still very new, but we see the inherent value in making ocean information available to the scientific community and all users around the world.'
Google Earth's new ocean features can benefit region, say environmentalists
Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 09;
SINGAPORE: Google Earth has just gone one step further and now allows users to take a 3D dive into the sea.
Users can view ocean topography, watch regions of the Earth change over time, and even check out the scenery on Mars.
Former US vice-president, Al Gore, who is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said: "Google Earth uses the Earth itself as an organising metaphor, not only for visual imagery, but for all of the imagery, historical, scientific, cultural, everything you can think of… and it is organised geospatially because it makes more sense. It's easier to use.”
In Southeast Asia, Google hopes to work with environmental groups to provide more focused data for the software.
Marketing manager of Google Southeast Asia, Derek Callow, said: "There's a wealth of data from user-generated content. We're a region that's got a lot of coastlines, a lot of learning opportunities and tourist spots, but also some real environmental challenges."
And the environmental challenges include pollution and endangered marine life.
Many local environmental groups here have been embracing the Internet for quite a while now, but with this new feature on Google Earth, they say they will be able to raise more awareness about the environment, especially about marine conservation in this region.
Executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, Howard Shaw, said: "There is a lack of information in this region and the region we call the Coral Triangle, which contains the richest biodiversity of anywhere in the planet, exceeding that of the South American Amazon rainforests even."
More than 500 million people have downloaded Google Earth since it was launched in 2005. While the software is available free on Google's website, researchers and organisations can purchase a more powerful version for about US$400.
Google says the idea of adding oceans came three years ago when a scientist pointed out that the software lacked details of what is under the water, which covers almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface.
- CNA/yt
