Conceptually, the oceanic maps are great. It is beyond cool to be able to see ocean-related points of interest like shipwrecks, and have cross-referenced content like undersea explorations. The interface remains flexible in the new version, too. Hot keys CTRL+ALT+B and CTRL+ALT+T toggle the sidebar and toolbar, respectively, making it simple to maximize screen real estate. Meanwhile, Google's use of scientific content from multiple oceanographic concerns makes this one of the few places that the public can access such an incredible range of facts, figures, and true stories of the sea from one place.

However, it shouldn't surprise many that the execution of the new features leaves much to be desired.

Searching in Google Earth is still atrocious. Even when you have Oceans activated, typing in "Titanic" into the search field will get you nowhere. If you adjust the term to "Titanic shipwreck," your results seem to depend on your most recently searched locations. After looking at San Francisco, searching for "Titanic shipwreck" showed me a list of shops and restaurants that had "Titanic" in the name. After closing and re-starting Google Earth, and searching for "Titanic shipwreck" again, the globe panned over to the correct part of the North Atlantic but did not zoom in.

For Google to fail so hard with its search algorithms is like Ford failing to stay on top of developing car tech.

Even once I found what I was looking for, Google Earth was not always free from failure. There is a feature with which you can click on a white and blue circle icon to learn more about the part of the ocean you're exploring. Sometimes this results in a picture, a bit of text, and links to more content online. Other times I was rewarded with a blue puzzle-piece icon. Clicking on this missing plug-in icon resulted in nothing--no jump to download the plug-in, not even a message telling me what the plug-in is called.