However, our data can also be used for many other purposes and we hope that by publishing some of it on our website in a special layer viewable in Google Earth, we will encourage other government and non-government organisations to share seabed data with us, and so save costs for everybody. Moreover, we want to show the public where their money is being spent whilst encouraging suggestions for new areas that can be considered for surveying’.

Files, each including an image of a surveyed seabed, can be viewed by downloading Google Earth for free and then accessed via the MCA website (www.mcga.gov.uk/hydrography). But they should not be used for navigation, cautions Rob Spillard.