It was only a matter of time until the Mountain View-based company started looking for new worlds to explore so, after reaching the earth and the sky, Google gets ready for the ocean. Elinor Mills of CNET reports that Google may be interested in developing a 3D version of the ocean which would be integrated into Google's downloadable tool, Google Earth.

A few weeks ago, Google rolled out Google Earth 4.3 beta, a brand new version of the application which incorporates many new functions such as Street View. Moreover, the Sky support was implemented a long time ago so the Ocean would be an obvious addition.

According to the same source mentioned above, Google refused to comment the speculations, saying that the Mountain View-based company has "nothing to announce right now." However, Elinor Mills writes that Google "has assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts, and in December invited researchers from institutions around the world to the Mountain View, Calif., Googleplex." Moreover, "they discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map, according to sources familiar with the matter."

Obviously, such an improvement would be an amazing update and an extremely useful function for oceanographers because it would help them explore the underwater world. In fact, it's already known the fact that Google Earth is currently being used by numerous scientists out there for all kinds of purposes including monitoring volcano activity in different regions of the world.

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

If you wish to download the latest version of Google Earth, which by the way was released a few days ago, you can find it on Softpedia using the following link.