At the Google I/O conference today, VP Engineering Vic Gundotra stressed the supremacy of the browser among all internet-enabled platforms.
So it should come as no surprise that the Google Earth team has announced on the same day that it has ported the Google Earth desktop client’s 3D mapping technology into the browser.
Website developers are now able to embed 3D maps, which can be modified using Google’s JavaScript API to add KML data, draw 3D buildings, attach callbacks, and more. The entire embed is powered by a special Google Earth Browser Plugin that end users must install. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox users on Windows.
Peter Birch from the Google Earth team stressed to me at Google I/O the convenience of porting KML-based applications from 2D maps to 3D ones within the browser. Existing Maps API developers need only to add a single line of JavaScript to their initialization code. Developers who’ve created KML extensions for the Google Earth desktop client can bring those into the browser as well.
Peculiarly, Google is not offering the equivalent of a default installation of Google Earth in the browser. If you want to search the globe from square one, you still need to visit the 2D Google Maps website. Therefore, this release is mainly a developer one - not really a new product launch. Hopefully we’ll see a “3D Globe” option in Google Maps soon.
Update: As commenters point out, Microsoft has been 3D mapping within the browser for over a year, also only on Windows and with certain browsers.
Real nice.. some fresh air!!
May I say ‘lame’?
Microsoft has been doing this thing for over a year.
Microsoft Virtual Earth has been offering this for quite some time and works very well. Google behind on something? Surely not!
Couple of extra things:
-Safari and OS X / Linux support will come soon.
-The Examples are pretty cool. Check out Monster Milktruck: http://code.google.com/apis/ea.....mples.html
This marks the beginning of the eventual convergence of Google Maps and Google Earth. Maps is getting more badass and flexible by the month, and Earth is getting closer and closer to being run in the browser.
This one made me laugh when I read “windows only”. Remember the reaction of web 2.0 pundits when MS released their 3D virtual earth plugin for Windows only over a year ago.
#3 and #5 they have a good point…
“only on Windows and with certain browsers”
Who’s the lamer now???
Where are the MS haters? haven’t seen any around here lately…
Poly9 has been doing this for a while, too, cross-platform and cross-browser.
http://freeearth.poly9.com/
Has a JavaScript API, too!
Well I think the obvious difference here is that whilst its Windows only now, its a safe bet that Google at least intent to move this across to other platforms (just as they did with the desktop app).. Microsoft on the other hand….
Very nice, and can confirm that for sites with existing Maps API it’s very easy to add (a change to one line and addition of one other).
http://www.thursdayclub.com/city for an example.
Seems to do some weird things to the info windows for existing maps but that’s probably us. Still trying to figure that one out.
Yeah, this is just Google playing catch up. But, they’re not catching up all the way. Microsoft’s Virtual Earth has had support for switching back and forth between 2D and 3D for over a year. And now, Google has a web based 3D map, but it’s still not integrated within Google Maps. So, I would say even though Google is playing catch up on this one, they are still behind. Why not let developers integrate both 2D and 3D mapping into their apps with Google Maps the same way they alread can with Microsoft Virtual Earth?
The best FREE software in the world gets even better!
Microsoft Virtual is definately planning to support OS X and Linux…all we’re waiting for is Silverlight 2.0 to come out of Beta.
here is a snippet of Virtual Earth cross-platform.
http://deepzoom.soulclients.com/VE/