There has been widespread interest in how Google collects its ocean data
Google experts divulge ocean mapping secrets
/v3-uk/news/2007083/google-experts-divulge-ocean-mapping-secrets
24 Feb 2009, Rosalie Marshall , V3
Google has released further details on the accuracy of Google Earth 5.0, which now traces the ocean floor and includes surface data from marine experts.
The release follows speculation that Google Earth had helped in the discovery of a grid of 'streets' in the ocean thought to be the lost city of Atlantis.
Google has denied the Atlantis reports, but widespread interest in how Google collects its ocean data has prompted the company to call in two of its experts to explain more.
Walter Smith, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and David Sandwell, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, explained in a blog post that the lines were "ship tracks" stemming from a process known as echo sounding, which maps strips of sea floor under ships by measuring the time it takes for sound to travel from the ship to the sea floor and back.
Google also gains a picture of the ocean by measuring the water surface using satellite-based radar. For example, the ocean is higher when there are large underwater mountains, the scientists said.
However, Smith and Sandwell admitted that large discrepancies in the ocean data still remain, and said that Google's map of Mars is about 250 times more accurate than the map of the ocean.
To gain a perfect picture, the whole ocean would have to be mapped with ships, which would cost around $2bn (£1.4bn), according to a US Navy study.
"That may seem like a lot of money, but it's not that far off from the price tag of, say, a new sports stadium," Smith and Sandwell concluded.
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
The Experts are Correct
The "lines" seen in Google Maps on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at about 31°15'15.53" N, 24°15'30.53" W. that are being touted as "Atlantis" is the grid pattern along which data was collected during the Tydeman 80 and Tyro 82 cruises. These grid patterns correspond exactly to the so-called "Atlantis" in Google Earth are shown in figure 1 of:
Alibes, B., M. Canals, B. Alonso, S. M. Lebreiro and
P. P. E. Weaver, 1996, Quantification of Neogene and
Quaternary sediment input to the Madeira Abyssal Plain.
Geogaceta. vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 394-397. ISSN: 0213683x.
This paper can be downloaded from:
http://www.sociedadgeologica.es/archivos/geogacetas/Geo20%20(2)/Art36.pdf
This area was studied as part of research into the use of abyssal plains for the disposal of radioactive waste.
This is discussed in:
Freeman, T. J., C. N. Murray, T. J. G. Francis, S. D.
McPhail, and P. J. Schultheiss, 1984, Modelling
radioactive waste disposal by penetrator experiments
in the abyssal Atlantic Ocean. Nature vol. 310,
No 5973, pp. 130-133, doi:10.1038/310130a0
Abstract at
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v310/n5973/index.html
and in:
Searle, R. C., S. R. J. Williams, Q. J. Huggett, R. G.
Rothwell, P. J. Schultheiss, and P. E. E. Weaver, P. P.
E., 1987, The geology of the Madeira Abyssal Plain:
further studies relevant to its suitability for radioactive
waste disposal. Wormley, UK, Institute of Oceanographic
Sciences Deacon Laboratory, 86pp. (Institute of
Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory Report, 250)
Link to this PDF file found in "e-Print Soton, University of Southhampton, Year: 1987" at:
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/15118/
PDF file at:
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/15118/01/250.PDF
In addition, this so-called "Atlantis, was part of the study area for Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) Leg 157. The cores taken from ODP drill sites 950, 951, and 952, within this alleged "Atlantis" completely refute any arguments that this area was at any time above sea level. Go see:
Schmincke, H.-U., Weaver, P.P.E., Firth, J.V., et al.,
1995. Proc. ODP, Init. Repts., 157: College Station, TX
(Ocean Drilling Program). PDF files at:
http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/157_IR/157TOC.HTM
Posted by PaulH., 24 Feb 2009
Google Ocean + Google Latitude = Real-time Fishing LBS Contents
Have you heard about Real-time Fishing LBS Contents? We have proposed this Service Model to Google over 3 years ago. Real-time Fishing LBS Contents is Location Based Service for IPTV, WiMAX, Mobile. This Service Model was created in 2002 by I&IWorld. I&IWorld's located in South Korea. As you know, there're many people enjoy fishing in the world(about 5 hundred million). I&IWorld's Real-time Fishing LBS Contents is like these.
*Main Functions*
1.The underwater topography and 3D views with fishing spots
2.Real-time fishing points tracing by GPS and angling direction guide
3.Service the real-time fishing condition about fishing place(weather, water temp, depth etc)
4.Angler Social network(such as Second Life)
Visit http://www.koreacontent.org/co/i/iiworld/index.html. If you need more information, please send your email address.
Posted by Min-woo Kim, 25 Feb 2009