[Infowarrior] - Google Earth 5.0

Tue Feb 3 02:58:50 UTC 2009

  Introducing Google Earth 5.0

Users can dive into the ocean, travel back in time and visit Mars in  
the newest version of Google Earth

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (February 2, 2009) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)  
today announced the launch of ocean in Google Earth, a new feature  
that enables users of Google Earth to dive beneath the water surface,  
explore 3D underwater terrain and browse ocean-related content  
contributed by leaders in ocean science and advocacy. The new version  
of Google Earth also introduces Historical Imagery, a feature that  
enables users to virtually travel back in time through archival  
satellite and aerial imagery, Touring, which makes it simple to create  
a narrated tour in Google Earth and share it with the world and Google  
Mars 3D, which features hi-res imagery and terrain of the red planet.

"With this latest version of Google Earth you can not only zoom into  
whatever part of our planet’s surface you wish to examine in closer  
detail, you can now dive into the world’s oceans that cover almost  
three-quarters of the planet and discover new wonders that had not  
been accessible in previous versions of this magical experience," said  
The Honorable Al Gore at this morning's launch event in San Francisco.  
"Moreover, with the new historical imagery feature, you can look back  
in time and see for yourself the unprecedented pace of change taking  
place on the Earth — largely because of human influences. For example,  
you can watch the melting of the largest glacier in Glacier National  
Park—the Grinnell Glacier—image by image, for the last decade."

"In discussions about climate change, the world's oceans are often  
overlooked despite being an integral part of the issue," said Eric  
Schmidt, CEO of Google. "About one-third of the carbon dioxide that we  
emit into the atmosphere ends up in the oceans. Furthermore,  
biodiversity loss in our oceans in the next 20-30 years will be  
roughly equivalent to losing an entire Amazon rainforest, but this  
goes unnoticed because we can't see it. This is why today's launch of  
Google Earth 5.0 is so important - it gives us an opportunity to  
change everyone's perspective."

Ocean in Google Earth combines sea floor terrain and expert content to  
provide users with an opportunity to explore some of the most  
difficult-to-reach parts of the world. Virtual travelers to Hawaii,  
for example, can examine underwater volcanoes, see videos about the  
exotic marine life of the region, read about nearby shipwrecks and  
contribute photos and videos of favorite surf spots.

The ocean feature is on by default in the newest version of Google  
Earth. As users zoom in on the ocean they will see a dynamic water  
surface, and once they dive beneath the surface they can navigate 3D  
sea floor terrain. The feature includes 20 content layers, containing  
information contributed by the world's leading scientists,  
researchers, and ocean explorers (for a full list of partners please  
visit http://earth.google.com/ocean/partners.html). These include:

     * An "Explore the Ocean" layer containing photos and videos about  
ocean hot spots around the world contributed by over 80 individuals  
and organizations
     * A National Geographic Magazine geo-quiz and overlays from their  
new Atlas of the Ocean
     * Videos from the archives of Jacques Cousteau, featuring never- 
before-seen footage of historic ocean expeditions

"What this project helped me begin to understand," said John Hanke,  
Director of Google Earth and Maps, "is the role the ocean plays in  
global climate change and the impact that humans are having on the  
oceans and the creatures that live in it. It was a serious omission on  
our part not to include a better treatment of the oceans when we  
launched Google Earth, and I'm very happy that we've been able to  
address that. We now have a good substrate for publishing and  
exploring data about the 'other' two-thirds of the planet."

The new feature was developed in close collaboration with  
oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia  
Earle and an advisory council of leading ocean advocates and scientists.

"I cannot imagine a more effective way to inspire awareness and caring  
for the blue heart of the planet than the new ocean in Google Earth, "  
said Sylvia Earle. "For the first time, everyone from curious kids to  
serious researchers can see the world, the whole world, with new eyes.  
In a stroke, Google Earth brings life and character to the blue part  
of the planet, and makes obvious the many ways land, water, atmosphere  
and living systems connect. Many 'aha!' moments are sure to come as  
people discover new patterns, new correlations, and countless personal  
discoveries while vicariously diving into the waters of the world."

The announcement was made this morning at the California Academy of  
Sciences in San Francisco, one of the nation’s leading institutions  
for scientific education and research. Following the announcement,  
local fourth graders participated in an interactive lesson on marine  
ecosystems, designed specifically by Academy educators to use the new  
ocean feature. “Information technology is key to the work that Academy  
scientists and educators do, and Google Earth is a leading example of  
such technology,” said Dr. Greg Farrington, Executive Director of the  
Academy. “Ocean in Google Earth opens up a new world of opportunities  
to explore and educate the public about the least understood parts of  
our planet.”

Also launched today:

Historical imagery: In previous versions of Google Earth, users could  
only view only one set of imagery for a given location. Now users can  
activate a time slider to see both newer and older satellite imagery  
from around the globe, enabling them to observe a single location's  
development over time.

Touring is a simple new way for users to create narrated tours of  
imagery and content in Google Earth. By simply pressing the "record"  
button, users can fly from place to place, zoom in or out and click on  
content balloons, providing voiceover narration along the way. Whether  
creating a tour of one's family home or an in-depth study of  
environmental change, the tours are easy to create and even easier to  
share.

Google Mars 3D is the latest stop on Google's virtual tour of the  
galaxy. Users can travel to Mars with the click of a button and see  
high resolution imagery and 3D terrain. They can fly to the top of  
Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in our solar system, read geo- 
located excerpts about different locations on the planet from A  
Traveler's Guide to Mars, observe where various Mars Rovers and  
Landers have touched down and much more.

GPS Tracking - Previously only available in the Plus and Pro versions  
of Google Earth, now all users can upload tracks from GPS devices  
(including many Garmin, Magellan, and NMEA-compatible devices) to  
Google Earth, making it easy to visualize and record running, hiking  
and biking routes.

Google Earth 5.0 is now available in 41 languages (previously  
26):English (US), English (GB), French, Italian, German, Spanish  
(Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Dutch, Simplified Chinese,  
Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian,  
Polish, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Portuguese  
(Portugal), Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Czech, Greek,  
Norwegian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Slovak,  
Filipino, Slovenian, Serbian, Catalan, Latvian, Ukrainian, and Hindi.

Product descriptions, visuals and more can be found at http://sites.pressatgoogle.com/ocean 
.
Broadcast quality b-roll is available at www.thenewsmarket.com/google.

About Google Earth
Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of  
Google's search service to make the world's geographic information  
easily accessible and useful. There have been over 500 million unique  
downloads of Google Earth since the product's launch in June, 2005.  
Google Earth can be downloaded for free at http://earth.google.com/.

About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people  
around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by  
Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a  
top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted  
advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable  
results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google  
is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the  
Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com 
.

###

Google and Google Earth are trademarks of Google, Inc. All other  
company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with  
which they are associated.

Media Contact:
Kate Hurowitz
press at google.com
650-930-3555