Google touts that its new Maps Engine API can be used for virtually any
kind of application, with business use cases ranging from health care to
retail.
(Credit: The Google Enterprise Blog)
Google has introduced a new
API for its Maps Engine, touted as a way to let developers build
"endless kinds of applications" hosted in the Internet giant's cloud.
To recall, the Maps Engine is essentially the reincarnation
of Google Earth Builder, which lets developers use Google's cloud
infrastructure for storing and managing their own geospatial data and maps.
Users can also use the service to share their custom Google Maps with
other employees, clients, and the public at large.
Touted to be supported by "any platform" (Web, Android,
iOS, and so on), the new API will provide a link between developers' apps and
the Maps Engine for editing geospatial data.
The Maps Engine API is a RESTful API, meaning that all requests to the API
are HTTP requests. Thus, any programming language with an HTTP library can be
used to query or modify data in this API.
However, developers should know that Google's API client libraries
currently don't support the JavaScript Object Notation standard format returned
by the Google Maps Engine API.
Google product manager Jen Kovnats pointed toward some particular business
use cases in a blog post on Wednesday.
"For example, FedEx.com uses the API to query its more than 50,000
retail locations and IRIS creates applications for utilities to track
underground pipelines," he wrote.
FedEx IT manager Pat Doyle explained further in a separate blog post how
the API ties in with other Google services, such as Google Street View and
driving directions:
By hosting attributes, such as
street addresses, opening hours, holiday schedules and local pick-up times on
Maps Engine, we can update details for nearly 50,000 retail touchpoints in
real-time and share this information to FedEx.com visitors within minutes. This
helped us replace a patchwork of region-bound store locators with a single,
global site.
Interested developers and existing Google Maps Engine customers can
contact the Google sales team now about signing up for access to the API.
This story originally appeared as "Google intros Maps Engine API for custom-made, cloud-based
maps" on ZDNet.(source: cnet)
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