The Street View service in Google Maps now boasts a new addition --- the remarkably scenic images of Australia's Great Barrier Reef and some other noteworthy coral sites, which will facilitate users in navigating around the sites.

The images which have been added to the Street Views feature on Google Maps have been clicked with the help of avant-garde seafloor mapping cameras, and have largely been contributed by the Catlin Seaview Survey project that involves a study of the health of the coral reefs, including the effect of global warming.

The addition of the images of some of the world's great coral reefs - specifically including the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island and Wilson Island, along with Hawaii's Hanauma Bay and Molokini Crater and the Philippines Apo Island - marks the company's first attempts in terms of incorporating underwater pictures into its mapping service.

Noting that the attempt would give the scientists a mechanism for analyzing ecosystems and raising general awareness, Jennifer Foulkes - the ocean programme manager at Google - told the BBC that Google is aiming at an all-inclusive source for imagery which would allow people to explore any underwater location.

Describing the images as "the next step to take users underwater," Foulkes said that the new mapping effort will give the users "the experience of an area that most people have been to - seeing sea turtles, seeing manta rays, crazy pencil urchins and beautiful fish."