Google Earth Plugin: infuse maps and web apps with 3-D geographic views

If Google Earth was not big enough, it has now been given a boost in its reach thanks to a new Google Earth browser plugin and API. This new interface will allow developers to use the features of Google Earth without having to run the client installation and that enables them to infuse 3-D geographic views into Web applications.

Many developers already know how popular Google Maps has been, many use it in their applications and computer users see Google Maps everywhere online and offline on weather channels. This new API and plug-in is aimed at making Earth as popular as the Maps service which is said to be integrated into over 150,000 websites.

The API has some great features and these include support for switching to Google Sky mode for high-resolution imagery of stars, planets and galaxies. The ability to view the thousands of existing 3-D buildings or add a developer’s own 3-D models. Support for manipulating KML and the 3-D environment to create polygons, lines and place marks. A JavaScript API to enable rich Earth-based Web applications and the ability to embed Google Earth inside any Web page with only a few lines of code.

We would imagine that Google Earth’s API will be used on a lot of real estate sites for 3D views of houses. Are you a developer and do you plan on using the new API and plug-in? You can get more information on code.google.com