After its controversial Street View programme, Internet search giant Google is all set to unveil a new browser that can map out the entire human body.
The high-tech 3D application, called Google Body Browser, has been hailed as a breakthrough in the study of anatomy that could revolutionise people’s understanding of the human body and even fast-track medical research.
The application, yet to be released officially, lets one explore the human body in much the same way you can navigate the world on Google Earth — a virtual globe, map and geographical information programme.
In 2007, Google introduced another application called Street View which provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world.
About the development of the new application, Google has, until recently, been tight-lipped, but a new video has appeared on the Internet which provides a sneak peek at how the new tool will work, the Daily Mail reported.
“Google Body Browser also ushers in the introduction of brand new Internet technology called WebGL, that will allow complex 3D graphics to be used on normal web pages, without the need for specially adapted browser plug-ins like Flash or Java,” said the report.
The video, shot on a mobile phone, shows an Internet developer from Google’s WebGL research unit revealing the application to industry colleagues.
“One can quickly see the possibilities of how this could help anatomical education,” a blogger, who witnessed the demonstration said he was excited by the browser’s potential, was quoted as saying.
“Last year I got the opportunity to work on an open standards based web3D medical app for learning the bones of the body. After witnessing how that app really helped students learn the bones, I am sold on using web3D for medical education.”
Ahead of its official unveiling Google has released a version available on WebGL-supported browsers or beta versions of Firefox and Google Chrome, which can be downloaded from the Google Body Browser site (http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com).
WebGL is expected to become standard in new versions of most Internet browsers, including Firefox, to be released next year.
