CONSERVATIONISTS working with Google Inc. have unveiled a tool that lets people view protected marine areas with the click of a mouse -- a bid to harness the Internet's top search engine to raise awareness of endangered ocean habitats. The feature on Google Earth displays icons indicating sensitive areas of the world's oceans, from the waters off the Galapagos Islands to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. A click on them brings up photos and/or video of the sites and marine life there, as well as text explaining the sites, how they are managed and local maritime lore. Google Earth project manager Steve Miller said the tool, which Google Earth calls a layer, is the culmination of a yearlong project to let conservationists bring hard science to the general public in an entertaining way. “We sat down and said ‘Let's open this up, let people around the world who might be passionate about their (marine protected area), who might be passionate about the water in their backyard, let them contribute to this,”' Miller said. The new feature was presented at a congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a grouping of more than 1,000 government and nongovernment organizations and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. Google Earth is the platform for the new tool and helped develop it with the IUCN and the World Commission on Protected Areas.
