Saturday, August 21, 2010

Global Marine Life on Google Maps

OBIS-Seamap

OBIS-Seamap uses Google Maps to show the distribution and the ecology of marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles across the globe.

It is possible to search and view data on the map for any of one of 324 different species. It is also possible to filter the data shown on the map by taxon group; 'sea bird', 'sea turtle' or 'marine mammal'.

OBIS-Seamap - Online Mapper
Whilst the OBIS-Seamap is hugely impressive enough on its own it is also accompanied by an Online Mapper. The Online Mapper lets you create your own map using multiple species/datasets as well as your own map elements.

Using the map you can map multiple datasets/species on a single map, upload your own ESRI shapefile(s) to filter the data by your region(s) of interest and overlay Google Earth KML. However an OBIS-Seamap account is required for some of the customisation features.

World Database on Marine Protected Areas

Did you know that only 0.7 of the world's oceans are protected? The WDPA-Marine wants to provide the most comprehensive set of marine protected areas (MPAs) data available. Part of this effort involves a very cool Google Maps mashup that provides information about the less that 1% of protected ocean.

The map uses shaded polygons to highlight protected ocean areas. For each protected area it is possible to select a number of layers showing coral, mangrove, seagrass and saltmarsh locations. The map also includes layers to display Wikipedia articles, photographs and videos of the selected protected area.

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