NOT content with mapping just the landscapes on dry ground, Google’s Street View is going under water to chart the magnificent habitats of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.

A team of scientists and underwater photographers sets sail from Port Douglas today on a ground-breaking expedition in the name of science, conservation and awareness.

In pictures: Google Street View hits the Great Barrier Reef

They will travel to the Ribbon Reefs and outer reefs, diving to depths of 100m.

"The top half of the reef is what people perceive as the coral reefs, but when you go deeper, you’ve got this area that’s like a forgotten zone on the planet," project director Richard Vevers said.

"Very little research is done there."

The images they capture on the upper reefs will be stitched together to create 360-degree panoramas for Google Maps, which can be accessed by millions of viewers around the world who might never get to see the Reef first-hand.

"That allows people to use Street View to go for a virtual dive – walk in from the water’s edge and look around in full 360-degrees," Mr Vevers said.

Special cameras mounted on "underwater scooters" will take a photo every three seconds.

The dive team also includes robots that are required for the deeper reaches during the two-week expedition.

The team’s work is the first study that fully documents the health and make-up of the Reef and its larger marine creatures.

Local Emmy-winning cinematographer Richard Fitzpatrick is on board for a mega fauna survey, tagging and tracking creatures such as manta rays, turtles and tiger
sharks.

The project, called the Catlin Seaview Survey, is a partnership between a British insurance company Catlin, Google, and the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute.

In pictures: Google Street View hits the Great Barrier Reef 

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