The company has assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts, and in December invited researchers from institutions around the world to the Mountain View, Calif., Googleplex. There, they discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The tool – for now called Google Ocean, the sources say, though that name could change – is expected to be similar to other 3D online mapping applications. People will be able to see the underwater topography, called bathymetry; search for particular spots or attractions; and navigate through the digital environment by zooming and panning.

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A group of oceanography experts gathered at the Googleplex in December to discuss plans for developing a 3D oceanographic map. The new tool is tentatively called Google Ocean and is believed to be similar to other 3D mapping applications, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The tool would allow users to see underwater topography, search for specific spots and navigate by zooming and panning.

"There is no real terrain or depth model for the ocean in Google Earth," Tim Haverland, a geospatial application developer at the Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told News.com "You can’t get in a submarine and in essence fly through the water and explore ocean canyons yet."

Google Ocean will have a basic layer that shows the depth of the sea floor and will act as a spatial framework for more data. Google has plans to have some areas of the map in high-resolution images.

Other data will be visible as overlying layers that show weather patterns, currents, temperatures, shipwrecks and coral reefs.

"Google will basically just provide the field and then everyone will come flocking to it," predicted Stephen P. Miller, head of the Geological Data Center at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "There will be peer pressure to encourage people to get their data out there."

Google is likely to use high-resolution grids from oceanographic institutions showing the depth of certain areas. The data from those grids, cover a small portion of the sea floor, are based on ships using mulitbeam sonar. The sonar helps to calculate the depth of the sea floor based on bumps and dips in the ocean’s surface.

"We hope that one of the outcomes of Google Ocean will be an understanding of how much remains to be explored," said Miller of Scripps.