New 3D perspective from Google

New 3D Perspective in Maps API for Flash.

Google has released a new “3D” perspective “mode” for Google Maps applications based on Flash. This gives a 3D-like experience to the 2D Google Maps (without the 3D terrain or 3D models from the Google Earth API). You can tilt and rotate the map and “fly” around Google Maps. One advantage to this is that Flash is pretty ubiquitous in nearly every browser, and requires less memory and graphics overhead compared to the GE plugin.

The interface for the new mode borrows from the GE plugin – so it should be familiar to anyone who uses the GE API applications. One thing I immediately missed for the Maps version is the middle-mouse button option to “tilt” your view. Anyway, in the post, Google lists several examples created by Maps API developers using the new 3D perspective. Here’s one of the examples:

By Frank Taylor of Google Earth Blog. [Google Earth Blog]