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Google Earth and Google Maps API Get Upgrades
[June 13, 2006]

Google Earth and Google Maps API Get Upgrades


TMCnet Associate Editor
 
Search engine giant Google (News - Alert) announced Monday upgrades to its Google Earth and Google Maps API products.


 
Google Earth, which is celebrating its first anniversary, is now out in Beta Release 4, the first major upgrade since its launch. The upgrade includes a four-fold resolution enhancement to the satellite images used.

 
Other upgrades to Google Earth include:
  • Improved user interface
  • Tools for creating and displaying third party/user0generated content
  • Addition of textured buildings for enhanced realism and detail
  • Version available for Linux
  • Localized versions in French, Italian, German and Spanish
Google also announced that the database of images used for Google Earth will soon be accessible to Google Maps as well.
 
Google Maps API, the developer tool for embedding Google’s dynamic maps into websites, also gets an upgrade this week.
 
The upgrade gives developers the ability to integrate data into Google Maps powered mash-ups using geocode addresses, and to display Keyhold Markup Language (KML) on maps.
 
Additionally, Google Maps is now available to enterprises on a fee-based licensing basis, enabling maps to be integrated into commercial websites or internal company applications.
 
The upgrades to Google Earth and Google Maps were announced yesterday at Google’s first annual Geo Developer Day.
 
"We are excited to celebrate the one year anniversary of Google Earth and the Google Maps API with new technologies for these products," said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, in a statement.
 
“In the past year, we have had more than 100 million unique Google Earth downloads and have enabled over 30,000 websites to create mash-ups combining their own geographic data with the Google Maps API,” Google Earth and Maps director John Hanke said in a press release.
 
Hanke continued: “The enthusiasm of the geo-developer community encourages us that these geo-based tools are connecting users to information in new and innovative ways.”
 
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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.
 

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