CNN reports:

<<A cargo plane, a helicopter and six patrol boats have been scouring the Pacific since Monday for Jim Gray, who helped develop the technology behind popular computer mapping programs like Google Earth.>>
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/31/missing.sailor.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Here is an IT Conversation interview with him
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail191.html

also, I don't believe he had anything to do with Google Earth, he's a Microsoftee http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2007/01/31/jim-grey-still-missing-at-sea/