Google Earth as a browser plug-in

Google has produced a version of its virtual globe, Google Earth, that runs in a browser. Google is aiming the plug-in at developers, giving them an opportunity to add 3D views of the world to their web sites. It doesn't include the full range of functions of the desktop application. Although the familiar keyboard and mouse commands work, the toolbars are missing. At the moment, the Google Earth plug-in only works under Windows, with Internet Explorer 6 or 7 and Firefox 2.

The plug-in can be controlled with JavaScript, and Google gives a number of programming examples on the plug-in home page. Users of the Google Maps API can link to the plug-in with just one line of JavaScript. Google promises that all the code for the two-dimensional Maps version will also work with the 3D version "for all current uses" of the Maps API.

(trk)