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Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Dive into the world’s largest reef

A closer look at the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef collection was part of the first group of underwater panoramic images added to Google Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate and usable map of the world. With these vibrant and stunning photos, you don't have to be a scuba diver – or even know how to swim – to explore and experience six of the ocean's most incredible living coral reefs. Now anyone can become the next virtual Jacques Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish and manta rays.

Starting today, you can use Google Maps to find a sea turtle swimming among a school of fish, follow a manta ray and experience the reef at sunset. You can also find out much more about this reef via the World Wonders Project, a website that brings modern and ancient world heritage sites online.

We partnered with The Catlin Seaview Survey, a major scientific study of the world's reefs, to make these amazing images available to millions of people through the Street View feature of Google Maps. The Catlin Seaview Survey used a specially designed underwater camera, the SVII, to capture these photos. Whether you're a marine biologist, an avid scuba diver or a landlocked landlubber, we encourage you to dive in and explore the ocean with Google Maps.

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View from underwater

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Experience the journey

For the first underwater Street View collection, Google partnered with the Catlin Seaview Survey, a group creating a global record of coral reefs.

The Catlin Seaview SVII camera weighs 65 kg (143 lbs). Its takes three photos every three seconds, which are then stitched into panoramas.

Underwater imagery is collected by members of the Deep Reef Team, specialists who focus on the “mesophotic zone” (30-100 m deep).

The team uses scooters to help them move quickly when diving. With a scooter, a diver can cover 2 km (1.2 miles) in a 45-minute dive.

Project Director Richard Vevers photographs a turtle with his tablet. This photograph was the first underwater post to a Google+ page.

Imagery of the reef’s flora and fauna captured on this expedition is now available in Street View.

Another image from the first underwater Street View collection.

The divers were able to view amazing marine life during the trip, including this anemonefish sheltering in its host anemone.

This school of bigeye snapper swam along with the survey team.

This mollusk (or marine snail) is called a Stromb and is quite common to Heron Island.

This image of a sunset over Wilson Island can be found in Street View.

Trek the Great Barrier Reef with Google Maps

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