Last month Google launched an updated version of Google Earth for Android with support for underwater imagery. This week the company rolled out the same features for the iOS version of Google Earth. That means you can comfortably explore the ocean’s depths from the comfort of your own home using an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad.
Google Earth 3.1 for iOS includes a new Ocean layer which you can toggle on or off. Honestly, if you click on any random spot on the ocan, what you’re most likely to find is a blue screen with a bit of water imagery at the top indicating where the ocean stops and the sky begins. But there are also points of interest scattered around the big blue spots, allowing you to see information about underwater life, research stations, and landmarks… or seamarks.
The app also supports the retina display in the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch, for sharper graphics.
Google Earth for iOS is available as a free download from the app store.
That’s so cool. It’s a matter of time somebody comes up with an Android App using GPS geolocation so that when you’re on your sail boat out in the middle of the sea you can view the landscape directly under your boat. This would be of great use to scientists, divers and explorers, combine this and mash it up with a rich corpus of real time and historical data. I’m sure it’s a matter of time that Google opens up the API for third parties to create amazing Android Apps for this. Exciting!