Google Earth, the popular earth mapping software provided by the search engine company of the same name, has now ventured beyond Earth. Not only does the latest version of the product allow users to explore the Red Planet, it also uncovers the depths of oceans in details unimaginable to laymen.

Google has partnered with the US Navy, National Geographic, the BBC, Cousteau's Ocean World, and several others to provide a wealth of information about everything from the global fishing crisis to footage of shipwrecks. Marine life census data, scientific expeditions, and countless links to information outside Google Earth make this a free treasure trove for science, social studies and geography.

John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, said the idea of adding oceans came three years ago when a scientist pointed out that the software was missing the water that covers almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface.

This new-fangled Google Earth also has a Touring feature which makes it simple to create sharable, narrated, fly-through tour by clicking the record button and navigating through your tour destinations. By selecting "Mars" from the toolbar in Google Earth, one can access a 3D map of the planet featuring the latest high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain, and annotations showing landing sites.

Google Earth 5.0 was unveiled at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where former Vice President Al Gore, singer Jimmy Buffet and others spoke about its capacity to educate the public about global warming, ocean acidification and other threats to the planet.

"This is an extremely powerful educational tool," said Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work raising awareness about climate change. "One of my fondest hopes is that people around the world will use Google Earth to see for themselves the reality of what's happening because of the climate crisis."

Google Earth has been downloaded more than 500 million times since it was launched in 2005. The software is available for free on Google's Web site. Researchers and organizations can purchase a more powerful version for $400.

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. It is available under three different licenses: Google Earth, a free version with limited functionality; Google Earth Plus (discontinued), which included additional features; and Google Earth Pro ($400 per year), which is intended for commercial use.

The product, renamed Google Earth in 2006, is currently available for use on personal computers running Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, Linux, and FreeBSD. Google Earth is also available as a browser plug-in for Firefox, Safari 3, IE6, or IE7. It was also made available on the iPhone OS as a free download from the App Store. The release of Google Earth in mid 2006 to the public caused a more than tenfold increase in media coverage on virtual globes between 2006 and 2007, driving public interest in geospatial technologies and applications.