GOOGLE MAPS SAN FRANCISCO’S SHORELINE

360 degree images of San Francisco Bay are now available on Google Street View

Isn’t he handy, the little yellow guy from Google Streetview? He has been taught to swim, and you can now throw him into the virtual water off the San Francisco Bay. In a joint project between Google, San Francisco Baykeeper, Marine Advanced Research and other providers of technical equipment, hundreds of miles of the bay’s coastline have been photographed. The goal: making it virtually accessible to the public via the popular Google Maps and Streetview tool. First glances are already available and provide impressive shoreline views of areas that often can only be approached from the water.

The pictures are taken with the 360-degree camera “Google-Trekker” which is mounted on a little remote controlled catamaran, a 16′ WAM-V USV. The ‘Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel Technology’ (WAM-V) the small water-robot is based on, was developed by the Silicon Valley startup Marine Advanced Research. A motor boat with Baykeeper scientists always accompanies it. Primary goal of the non-profit group is to use the images for educational features, to point out pollution and to track sea level rise and its consequences.

The project definitely provides new perspectives for non-mariners. For boat captains it might be interesting to get a first glance of a coastal area they have never sailed to before. However, skippers should not be seduced to use the images as navigation device.