Pat Halpin and his lab are helping Google Earth cover even more ground-by mapping water.
Halpin, Gabel associate professor of the practice of marine geospatial ecology and director of the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, has lent his expertise to the Ocean in Google Earth project since early in its development.
"You were able to fly around and look at things in 3D for the terrestrial [part of the world], but, if you looked at the ocean, you hit sea level," Halpin said of Google Earth. "Now, you can actually fly in and go underwater to see the topography under the ocean."
Google decided to add its new Ocean component because the oceans make up 70 percent of the Earth, Halpin noted, adding that people can now map out features of the ocean as they would directions to a movie theater.
Halpin is the primary liaison between Google and the Census of Marine Life-a 10-year program that will end in 2010, which involves 2,000 scientists from 80 countries. He is in charge of mapping for the Census of Marine Life, he said, noting that Duke has one of the more prominent geospatial ecology labs in the world.
Halpin has been working with Google at a high level to help them bring more accurate oceans information into Google Earth, said Ben Donnelly, system administrator and programmer at the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab. Donnelly noted that the Ocean expansion speaks to Google's desire for completeness.
Oceans in Google Earth held a release event in California two weeks ago, and Halpin noted that release attendees ranged from former vice president Al Gore to musician Jimmy Buffet.
He added that Silvia Earle, Ph. D. '66 and a well-known senior marine scientist and explorer, was also a leader of the program.
Ei Fujioka, Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab staff member, said he and others in Halpin's lab work closely with the Census of Marine Life's Education and Outreach Team from the University of Rhode Island.
"[The team] collects stories from Census researchers and compiles them," said, a candidate for a Ph.D. in the Nicholas School of the Environment, who works with Halpin.
A major task of those in Halpin's lab is converting the stories from the Education and Outreach Team into program form for Google Earth, Best said.
"It's just really amazing that the Google folks have engaged in this from, not so much an economic business plan, but just as a call for planet Earth," he said. "They see this as an important outreach. They've been very supportive in getting the content up."
Donnelly noted that although Ocean in Google Earth is not used directly for analysis, it, like Google Maps, is frequently used to display data.
"It's helping in many ways already just by drawing attention to the Census of Marine Life," he added.
Ocean in Google Earth now allows viewers to examine shipwrecks and land, among other features, Best said. But thanks to the Census of Marine Life's layers, it also includes a biological environment.
"[Ocean in Google Earth] can give people the experience of visiting the Titanic or going and seeing a sperm whale capture squid," Best said. "It makes that world much more real and rich. We can't protect and conserve or even care about things with which we have no familiarity."
One application currently available in the Ocean program allows people to take on the point of view of an animal being tracked, Best noted. Donnelly added that there is also a 3D layer displaying the spread of Antarctic octopuses.
"The really cool thing is not what Google just put up, but what other people will do with it," Halpin said. "With Google Earth and Google Maps, Google has put together a kind of raw media. Hundreds and hundreds of Web sites pop up afterwards as people add really cool applications."
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