At the Where 2.0 conference today Google announced the availability of a new Flash API for Google Maps. From Flash microsites to embedded media players to beautiful cross-platform AIR apps on the desktop – expect to start seeing interactive Google Maps embedded in a lot of unusual places soon.
A substantial portion of the web’s creativity can be found in the Flash developer community.
Adobe’s AIR platform is one of the hottest development environments in the consumer market today and is being deployed with increasing frequency in the enterprise as well. Live Google Maps in Flash are likely to be used in even more creative ways than the existing javascript API has been. Javascript can be used in AIR but it’s rarely used as attractively as Flash often is.
Too much Flash can be very annoying, but offering Google Maps in Flash only makes sense. We’re excited to see what developers do with it, and we’re far from alone in that excitement.
Greg Sadetsky, CEO of map savvy open source R&D lab Poly9, wrote this morning that “This is great news. There has been a long wait for Google to release an official Flash API for their popular Maps product.” ZDNet’s Google-watching Garett Rogers appeared to have unearthed the API hours before it was presented at the conference, that’s how we knew to start looking around.
Mapping is Hot
The mapping world is exploding right now; from the release of the giant Yahoo! Geo-location database API this week, to the release of control over KML mapping markup by Google last month and the groundswell of developer interest in location-aware applications and frameworks.
Throw some Flash Google Maps into the mix and things are liable to really get interesting. Check out this adorable little Flash Map below.
