Partners

The Tahina Expedition is fortunate to have a few select partners who are playing critical roles in helping us reach a larger audience to share our adventures, show people exotic locations, and the importance of keeping our oceans and coastal areas environmentally healthy.

This page lists the partners currently involved with the Tahina Expedition (there are more partner announcements coming):

	Google was the first partnership for the Tahina Expedition. Thanks to help from Google, you will see our GPS tracks, our route plans, photos, videos, and more all through Google Earth. The Tahina Expedition is also making use of a wide range of Google products including: Gmail, Picasa, Picasa Web Albums, Google Reader, and several others. Google was quick to step up and partner with the Tahina Expedition because of our planned use of technology, and because of our shared goal of raising awareness about the ocean environment.
	The Tahina Expedition is honored that National Geographic will be following our trip. We will be sharing content from this blog, and our photography with National Geographic online sites such as Ocean Now and BlogWild. We also will be inviting scientists from National Geographic to visit us on occasion as we visit unique oceanographic sites on our trip. It’s a great way to share our content with a wider audience, and we will have the chance to gain unique scientific insights about some of the locations we visit.
	When searching for a way to check the status of coral reefs without putting on a diving tank, I suddenly discovered VideoRay. These guys make the coolest, most versatile, underwater ROV with video camera you find. When I told VideoRay my plans to help monitor coral reefs, record interesting species of marine life world-wide, and share the results with the students in classrooms and people all over the world, they were quick to ask how they could be involved. Thanks to our partnership, Tahina Expedition will be using a VideoRay ROV to share some amazing sites, and help record environmental conditions of reefs all the way around the world. Read more about the partnership.
	The one company most devoted to using Google Earth for boating is: EarthNC. The Tahina Expedition will be using EarthNC’s nautical charts, weather data, and other mapping technologies to enhance our nautical situational awareness on the trip. EarthNC also provides professional services including KML development – and will be helping Tahina Expedition with our mapping applications. Read more about the partnership.
	When searching for a satellite system for sailing around the world, we called our friends at SatWest for advice. They helped us select a system and form a partnership to provide a cost-effective solution for the Tahina Expedition. The partnership included acquiring a Fleet 250 satellite system from a second partner Vizada. Read more about these two partnerships.
	We are experimenting with the very cool VideoRay Smart Tether system from KCF Technologies which enables us to visualize and track the ROV underwater in 3D. Special thanks to KCF Technologies for enabling the Tahina Expedition to work with their technology! Read more.
	Weather information is critical to sailing the oceans safely. The Tahina Expedition is fortunate to have on board the resources of ClearPoint Weather for our global weather software and data. This is an invaluable tool for Tahina that will enable us to more quickly understand the weather around the globe, and make more accurate decisions about our routes.
	In order to provide more immersive photography, we decided to make use of a popular new technology called 360 Panoramas. To help make this happen, we teamed up with the best technology solutions in this new field. First with 360Cities.net which hosts the world largest collection of 360 panorama photos, and fully supports Google Earth. Next we worked with the best provider of panoramic tripod mounts and accessories: Nodal Ninja. And we also teamed with the best software for processing panoramas: PTGui. Read more about the partnerships and see examples of the panoramas and the first 360 panorama of Tahina.