Yeah, this is going to be some pretty cool schtuff! Google has opened up an API to
Google Maps and thoughts on mapping and Flickr are whirling around in my head. My homies over at
iUpload had already put a hack together and integrated Google Maps feature into their Perspectives application but now there's no need to reverse engineer.
From the Google Maps API siteThe Google Maps API lets developers embed Google Maps in their own web pages with JavaScript. You can add overlays to the map (including markers and polylines) and display shadowed "info windows" just like
Here's the line I love...
...Google retains the right to put advertising on the map in the future.
Some of the fine print includes the limitation of each api key only being valid for a single directory on a single domain. So you can't use the same api key on multiple domains or even multiple directories on a single site, kind of weird but I can dissect that later, for now it's not important.
You can't hide the results of your mapping stuff from end users so that means you can't use it to create a paid service or members only type service, even if its free.
All in all this is smelling a whole lot more like another AdSense network than a freely available API. I'll have to tinker before I can offer more input so stay tuned.