The Seaview SVII is an underwater camera designed by the

Catlin Seaview Survey The Catlin Seaview Survey, later renamed the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, was a major scientific expedition which commenced in September 2012, whose aim was to document the composition and health of coral reefs worldwide. Specifically, the survey aim ...

team, intended to photograph

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s to provide visual documentation of a reef's health. The camera is designed to be controlled by a diver in shallow waters, and is propelled at a constant slow speed by a propeller mounted near the rear of the camera. Only two SVIIs are currently in existence. The cameras were used by the Catlin Seaview Survey and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

to create Google Ocean, a means of displaying underwater images using Google's existing

Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...

platform.

Purpose

The SVII camera was designed as a replacement for its prototype predecessor, the SVI, to take thousands of images of the shallow waters of the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and other endangered coral reefs around the world. The imagery and data generated by the camera and its operators is intended to provide a visual record of the health of the reefs, creating a baseline record for the reefs' health to be compared to future surveys. Additionally, the images will be made available by Google using the Google Maps Street View platform, to increase public awareness of the risks faced by coral reefs.

Specifications

The SVII is based upon its prototype, the SVI. Both cameras are self-propelling underwater housings for a set of three

Canon 5D The Canon EOS 5D is a 12.8 megapixel digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 5D was announced by Canon on 22 August 2005, and at the time was priced above the EOS 20D but below the EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds ...

cameras using wide-angle lenses. With a top speed underwater of about , the cameras record an image every 3–6 seconds and associate them with a geolocation coordinate. The images are then stitched together to create a 360-degree panorama of the area, in a format which can be uploaded online for public viewing. The SVII is controlled by a

Samsung Galaxy Tab The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a line of Android (operating system), Android-based and Microsoft Windows, Windows-based Mini tablets, tablet computers produced by Samsung Electronics. The first model in the series, the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, was ...

tablet to permit the user to change settings, and download or view images. The improved design also allows users to recharge the camera more easily and quickly than with the SVI. While intended for more widespread use, there are currently four SVIIs in existence. The SVII was invented and developed by Underwater Earth, in collaboration with Panedia and manufactured by ClaroWorks, the product development side of Dive Xtras. The SVII uses some technology developed by Dive Xtras / ClaroWorks; such as the underwater tablet housing and vehicle.

Imagery

Much of the imagery taken by the cameras is now available on Google Maps, for the following locations: *

Lady Elliot Island Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately . It is part of the Capricorn and Bunker Group of islands and is owned by the Co ...

, Great Barrier Reef * Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef * Wilson Island, Great Barrier Reef *

Apo Island Apo Island is a volcanic island covering 74 hectares in land area, 7 kilometers off the southeastern tip of Negros Island and 30 kilometers south of the Negros Oriental capital of Dumaguete in the Philippines. The name "Apo" means "elder" or "re ...

, Philippines *

Hanauma Bay Hanauma (; ) is a marine embayment formed within a tuff ring and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oahu in the Hawaii Kai neighborhood of East Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands. Hanauma is one of the most popular tourist destina ...

, Hawaii *

Molokini Molokini is a crescent-shaped, partially submerged volcanic crater which forms a small, uninhabited islet located in ʻAlalākeiki Channel between the islands of Maui and Kahoolawe, Kahoolawe, within Maui County in Hawaii, Hawaii. It is the remai ...

, Hawaii

References

{{reflist

External links

"Virtual Dive" of Heron Island
using images from the SVII Cameras