google maps updates... KML within gmaps, Google page creator, path and poly...

Some interesting updates from the gmaps crew recently hit the google maps API weblog. Imagine this... view KML files with google maps...

To view a KML or KMZ file on Maps, just go to Google Maps, and instead of searching for a geographical address like 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, 94043, search for a complete Web address (including the "http://" part) of your KMZ file, like http://kml.lover.googlepages.com/cropcircles.kmz. Also suggested... do you need your own web space to upload some files? Try Google Page Creator. http://pages.google.com/ View entire photo sets as self-contained KMZ files, as exported by Picasa. See more on how to do this via http://hikesandbikes.blogspot.com/2006/10/life-of-geolocated-blog-post.html Finally, path and polygon drawing tools are now in the free November 1 beta of Google Earth. More on the latest beta at http://earth.google.com/earth4-beta6.html - thanks to the gmaps API blog for these updates!