The latest 1.1 version of Google Earth for Android includes features that will let you delve into the mysterious depths of the ocean as well as the more terrestrial spaces of the planet's surface.
Google first dove underwater with its Earth product early last year. At that time, the company announced it would partner with organizations such as National Geographic to create a sort of Street View of the seas.
Earlier this year, those partnerships came to fruition with Ocean Showcase, a dazzling new feature that highlighted surf spots, shipwrecks, marine research and more.
It's fascinating to see the underwater aspects of Google Earth coming to handheld devices, as well.
"For example," writes Google product manager Jenifer Austin Foulkes, "check out the landscape and terrain in Monterery Bay Canyon, which is larger than the Grand Canyon, by zooming in on Google Earth below the ocean surface just off the coast. Once underwater, you can use the 'look around' button to tilt the view and see the extent of this great undersea canyon."
This version of Earth for Android includes an “Explore the Ocean” layer. Seemingly similar to the Ocean Showcase, this feature shows off hundreds of images and video from Google's content partners.
And if you're running Android 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo), you'll be happy to learn that Google Earth supports Flash in balloons, making it easy for you to view videos from within the app. For most devices, you can also use two-finger navigation to “look around” and change your view when examining underwater mountains and canyons.
If you'd like to check out the app on your Android handset, just use this QR code:
Is this app interesting and entertaining to you? Let us know what you think in the comments.