Users of Google Earth, the online bird’s eye view of the entire planet, may enjoy a new feature that allows you to view the seabed alongside the images of the land.

According to a technical expert at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the data, which has to be downloaded from the MCA website, represents the majority of the Agency’s re-surveying output for the last three or four years.

Step-by-step
1. Download Google Earth (it’s free but it likes new computers best)
Click here to download Google Earth 

2. Go to the MCA website and download the seabed image files
Click here to download MCA seabed files 

3. Open Google Earth on yor computer.

4. Go to: File – Open – and select the file you downloaded from Step 2 (which should end with the suffix: .kmz)

Warning: Not to be used for navigation!