Google Street View’s underwater journey

Last September, Google expanded its Street View service to include locations under the ocean, and if you’re curious about just how the company managed, TechCrunch has a great rundown of what goes into capturing all of those cute little sea turtles. As you’d imagine, it all starts with camera-equipped divers, and an average dive covers around two kilometers and captures up to 4,000 images — so far Google has captured more than 150,000 underwater snapshots. That’s all done using a specialized camera that includes a wider-angle lens compared to the typical Street View camera, and it’s outfitted with a tablet to control all of the underwater photo capturing. Currently the service only covers six locations, but expect that to change over the next few years as Google plans to expand with Street View locations in each of the world’s oceans. “We want to take you from your home to the turtle’s home,” Google’s Jennifer Austin Foulkes tells TechCrunch.