Google announced Wednesday 28th May that they are unveiling the Google Earth API and browser plug-in. As the latest member of Google’s Maps API family, the Google Earth API allows web developers to quickly and easily turn their web pages into 3D map applications.

Developers can now use the Earth as their canvas and apply their creative vision to a geographically rich, 3D environment, leveraging the same technologies Google use in the desktop Google Earth client. For consumers this means that they will probably soon see Google Earth in many more places around the web — perhaps even their favorite web site.

The Google Earth Browser Plugin is now live at code.google.com/apis/earth. Download it, learn from the online Developer Guide and samples, build something cool, and share it with the world!

Note! The plugins is currently only available for FF2, IE6 and IE7 running Windows.