Today, I'm happy to announce that we're working with Stack Overflow to improve developer support, especially for developers new to Android. In essence, the Android tag on Stack Overflow will become an official Android app development Q&A medium. We encourage you to post your beginner-level technical questions there. It's also important to point out that we don't plan to change the android-developers group, so intermediate and expert users should still feel free to post there.

I think that this will be a great new resource for novice Android developers, and our team is really excited to participate in the growth of the Android developer community on Stack Overflow. I hope to see you all there!

In addition, we just released a new batch of sample code, available now as a ZIP file download on the samples index page. And we're working on updating the way in which we distribute official sample code; more on that some other time.

The new sample code includes:

• Multiple Resolutions: a simple example showing how to use resource directory qualifiers to support multiple screen configurations and Android SDK versions.
• Wiktionary and WiktionarySimple: sample applications that illustrate how to create an interactive home screen widget.
• Contact Manager: an example on using the new ContactsContract interface to query and manipulate a user's various accounts and contact providers.
• Bluetooth Chat: a fun little demo that allows two users to have a 1 on 1 chat over Bluetooth. It demonstrates how to discover devices, initiate a connection, and transfer data.
• API Demos > App > Activity > QuickContactsDemo: a demo showing how to use the android.widget.QuickContactsBadge class, new in Android 2.0.
• API Demos > App > Activity > SetWallpaper: a demo showing how to use the new android.app.WallpaperManager class to allow users to change the system wallpaper.
• API Demos > App > Text-To-Speech: a sample using Text-To-Speech (speech synthesis) to make your application talk.
• NotePad (now with Live Folders): this sample now includes code for creating Live Folders.

We hope these new samples can be a valuable resource for learning some of the newer features in Android 1.6 and 2.0. Let us know in the android-developers Google Group if you have any questions about these new samples or about the new Resources tab.

Thanks for tuning in, and 'til next time, happy coding!

The great thing is, thanks to the Earth API and Maps API for Flash, developers have built a flurry of simulator applications that are visually stunning, geographically realistic, and highly addictive. Below are some of my favorite simulators for driving, sailing, running, and even landing on the moon!

WARNING: I will not be held liable for any lost productivity resulting from these awesome apps!

	Ships Considered by most to be in the list of top Earth API apps, Ships is a highly polished simulator by New Zealand-based Dinther Product Design for a variety of sea vessels (and a blimp!). The visual effects (i.e. the ship's wake using animated ground overlays), camera angles, and detailed screen overlay-based dials make Ships an exceptionally fun and immersive simulator. Primary API: Earth API
	Race My Race Although I don't have the endurance to run a marathon, I can still check out various marathon routes with the help of Race My Race! This app is a really fun way to explore the terrain along these difficult routes. And, if you're planning on running a marathon in the near future, this site can even help you prepare! Primary API: Earth API
	Sea-Seek Virtual Dive Ever want to explore the world's great bodies of water? Sea-Seek's Virtual Dive is perfect for just that! This app lets you commandeer a variety of air, ocean surface, and underwater vessels along coastlines and even in the deep blue sea! My favorite vessel is the 'Shark Sub,' equipped with a headlamp model. Primary API: Earth API
	Geoquake - Driving Simulator on Google Maps (Perspective) The original, 2D version of this simulator was very impressive—it allowed you to drive a car or truck in a city of your choosing in a Grand Theft Auto-like perspective. This version, however, one-ups the original by utilizing the new 3D perspective in the Maps API for Flash with a 3D car model for a more realistic feel. A great game from a great developer in Japan! Primary API: Maps API for Flash
	Apollo 11 Moon Lander Another gem from Dinther Product Design, this challenging, but very fun, minigame lets you attempt to land the Apollo 11 Moon Lander. I personally have never been able to land without crashing, but a few of my coworkers had no problem finishing with a successful 'Eagle Touchdown.' To them, I say: apply to NASA! Primary API: Earth API
	Gaiagi Driver This is a super-mashup of a number of Google and non-Google APIs, allowing you to visualize—in every way imaginable—the driving route between two addresses. The demo really shows off what's possible with today's geo platforms. Very exciting stuff! Primary API: Various

I hope you enjoyed trying out these simulators; maybe a few of you were inspired to write your own simulation apps! I bet we'll be seeing more and more of these types of apps in the future. 'Til next time, thanks for reading and drive safely!

The hackathon will cover the following APIs:

• The Google Maps API for JavaScript V2 and V3
• The Google Maps API for Flash
• The Google Earth API
• KML
• The Google Maps Data API

Space is limited, so register now! And remember, this will be a code-heavy event, so bring your laptop and come ready to code!

Posted by Roman Nurik, Geo APIs team

• Sections are now organized by topic, as opposed to level of difficulty
• Older topics such as balloons and events have been revisited and rewritten; important concepts are covered in more depth and some subtleties have been formally addressed. Some older, but very important, topics such as object containers now get their own full sections of the documentation.
• New topics such as tour playback, Sky/Mars/Moon, and general JavaScript debugging tips are now discussed in detail in the new Developer's Guide. Previously, the only available resources for some of these topics were sample code and the API reference.

• DOM Part I: An Introduction to the Earth API Document Object Model This article provides an introduction to the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) specification and discusses the parallels between the Earth API's KML DOM access methods and web browsers' HTML DOM methods.
• DOM Part II: Using the GEarthExtensions Utility Library for Easy DOM Manipulation In this article, we'll learn about the GEarthExtensions utility library's method of simplifying DOM traversals and how we can easily perform common DOM search and manipulation operations on entire KML document trees using this method.

Today, I'm glad to help commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing by announcing support for the moon in the Google Earth API. Just like with Mars, Earth API developers can now choose to show the moon upon instantiating the Google Earth Plugin. Here's a new demo, based on the original Monster Milktruck game, that you can check out to get a glimpse of Moon in the browser:

Lunar Rover

We've also added support for the Moon, Mars, and Sky to the KML embed and tour embed gadgets. Here's a quick demo of the fantastic Apollo 11 tour, created by Sean Askay, embedded in the browser using the touring gadget:

For those of you who don't currently have the plugin installed, here's what you're missing:

I hope that this new feature gives rise to some great new Moon mashups in the browser!

Last week at Google I/O we released the Google Maps API (JavaScript version) addition to the Developer Qualification program. Designed for professionals who currently develop or want to develop applications based on Google and Google-sponsored Open Source APIs, the Google Qualified Developer program will help promote developers to the Google community, provide credibility, and leverage the wisdom of the masses in rating and recognizing best in class developers. In this program, we assess developers in four areas, each of which provides a score towards an overall total required for qualification. Developers must maintain a minimum number of points to remain qualified within the program. Points are awarded for examples of development work, community participation, professional references, and scores on examinations.

With the addition of the Google Maps API to the available qualifications, the program landing pages and registration have been moved to the Google Code site at http://code.google.com/qualify. The new landing pages provide information on the program and available APIs, details about qualification requirements, answers to frequently asked questions, and an opportunity to apply as a candidate in the qualification program.

We've also recently partnered with 3rd party training vendors who can help you get ready to qualify. The Developer Qualification program provides a mechanism by which Google can evaluate and promote the best developers in the community, but does not provide training in preparation for qualification. With the success of the program there exists a business opportunity for 3rd party training vendors to develop and deliver this training. In order to stimulate the growth of this ecosystem, several vendors have been identified and are working closely with Google to develop initial training efforts for the Google Maps API qualification.

To read more about the program, take a look at our site. We look forward to expanding our API support and growing the Developer Qualification program. Please reach out to us with questions and feedback at devqual-proctors@google.com.

Posted by Shannon Madison, on behalf of the Developer Qualification team

map.addMapType(G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP);

This was really the first time that the 2D world of Google Maps and the 3D world of Google Earth came together. Users could navigate content publishers' geographic content in 2D or 3D, whichever they desired.

However, there were a few limitations with G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP. For example, only Maps markers and polylines were synchronized in 2D and 3D. Other overlay types were not kept in sync. Also, the transition from 2D and 3D wasn't as transparent to the user as it could've been. See Figure 1 to the right for an artist's depiction of the feature set.

Today, we're excited to announce a completely rewritten and 'beefed up' G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP (see Figure 2), available now in the latest experimental version of the Maps API (currently 2.160). While the usage is the same (simply use the line of code above), the overlay/feature synchronization is much more extensive, the 2D/3D transitioning is seamless, and the overall Maps/Earth integration is much stronger.

Most common Maps API overlays are now supported: markers, polylines, polygons, ground overlays, screen overlays, and even GGeoXml objects are automatically mirrored in the Google Earth Plugin. In fact, GGeoXml works in an especially powerful way: although Maps may not display all KML from a GGeoXml (i.e. 3D models), the Earth Plugin will show all the content, in all its 3D glory.

If you're as psyched as I am about the new features and want to give them a go, check out these demos and the short screencast below:

• Beefy G_SATELLITE_3D_MAPS demo
• 3D-enabled GGeoXml demo

To enable the new Maps/Earth integration on your site, simply load the experimental Maps API version using:

google.load('maps', '2.160');

and add the G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP map type. When Maps API v2.160 or later becomes version '2', the new Maps/Earth integration will replace the old version, which will then only be available by hard coding to version 2.159 or earlier in the google.load statement.

Lastly, if you have any trouble with the new integration code, please post in the Maps API or Earth API developer forums. Also see the Earth API notify group announcement for more details on this release.

Posted by Roman Nurik, Google Geo APIs Team

• Storage should scale simply with usage. You shouldn't have to worry about maintaining a data store to build a cool Google Maps mashup. Focus on building the client, and we'll provide hosting and bandwidth for free.
• Geodata should be accessible across platforms and devices. With many client libraries and clients, accessing stored geodata should be possible from anywhere, whether it's on the web, a mobile phone, a 3D application, or even a command line.
• Realtime geodata requires realtime indexing. For a lot of geographic content, freshness is important. Geodata from the Google Maps Data API can be instantly indexed and made searchable in Google Maps.
• Rendering geodata is better and faster with the right tools. Through JavaScript, Flash, 3D, static images and more, we'll continue to provide better ways to render your content to meet platform and latency demands.

• My Maps Editor for Android allows users to create and edit personalized maps from an Android mobile phone. Integration with the phone's location and camera makes it easy to document a trip with photos and text on a map.
• ConnectorLocal is a service that informs users about the places where they live, work and visit by gathering trusted hyperlocal information from many sources. Using the Google Maps Data API, ConnectorLocal makes it easy for users to import and export their geodata in and out of Google Maps, and also improves their ability to have data indexed in Google Maps for searching.
• My Tracks enables Android mobile phone users to record GPS tracks and view live statistics while jogging, biking, or participating in other outdoor activities. Stored with Google Maps Data API, these tracks can be accessed, edited and shared using the My Maps feature in Google Maps.
• Platial, a social mapping service for people and places, uses the Google Maps API to host geodata for community maps on both Platial and Frappr.

Posted by Taj Campbell, Google Maps Data API team

Last month, the Google Earth team made a splash in the news (pun intended) with the release of Google Earth 5.0. The update included the ability to dive underwater to explore the world's oceans, record and play back narrated tours, view historical imagery, and explore Mars in 3D. Today, our team is happy to announce the 5.0 version of the Google Earth Plugin!

If you've already installed the plugin, you should see the new version automatically within the next day or two. If not, you can download the plugin for Windows or Mac OS X by visiting any Earth API web site, such as Monster Milktruck and clicking 'Get The Google Earth Plugin now'.

We've added many of Google Earth 5.0's new capabilities to the plugin and API, as well as a few other frequently requested features. Here is a list of major new features in the plugin and API:

• Ocean: Underwater terrain and the ocean surface are now available, along with support for the clampToSeaFloor and relativeToSeaFloor altitude modes. In the Earth API, these are ALTITUDE_CLAMP_TO_SEA_FLOOR and ALTITUDE_RELATIVE_TO_SEA_FLOOR, respectively. (See example)
• (Issue 180) Tour playback: This is via KmlTour and GETourPlayer in the API. To play tours, you must first either parseKml or fetchKml a file containing a <gx:Tour>, and then use GETourPlayer to play the tour. (See example)
• (Issue 43) Programmatic photo overlay viewing: This is via KmlPhotoOverlay and GEPhotoOverlayViewer in the API. See the note on touring above for details on how to do this, or see the example page.
• (Issue 181) Mars: On plugin startup, you can connect to the Mars dataset instead of Earth. (See example)
• (Issue 7) Time slider: The standard Google Earth time slider UI will pop up upon loading KML containing time primitives such as <TimeSpan> and <TimeStamp> into the plugin. (See example)
• (Issue 47) Gray buildings: You can now add the gray buildings layer to the plugin with the LAYER_BUILDINGS_LOW_RESOLUTION layer. (See example)

Along with these major new features, we've implemented the following feature requests from the public issue tracker: 10, 27, 42, 49, 99 and fixed these publicly reported defects: 75, 118, 131, 148. Check the Earth API release notes for more details.

The full list of a new samples for this release can be found at the Earth API demo gallery.

On our agenda for the not-too-distant future is:

• Getting the other new Google Earth 5.0 features into the plugin
• More complete API support for KML tours
• Native API interfaces for time primitives

Lastly, if you're yearning for more Earth API goodness, make sure to catch my Google Earth API session at Google I/O on May 27th and 28th. Discounted early bird registration ends May 1st, so register now before time runs out!.

Howdy, everyone! I'm sure that after reading countless posts on the Geo Developers blog and writing tons of code using Google Geo APIs and other development kits, you're all experts with KML. I mean, you obviously know that to create a polygon, you simply need a <Placemark>, with a <Polygon> containing an <outerBoundaryIs> consisting of a <LinearRing> with a <coordinates> element which contains a series of (longitude, latitude, altitude) tuples... and, you didn't forget that you need to repeat your first coordinate tuple again at the end, right? Heh, well maybe not. For those of you can recite the entire OGC KML v2.2 schema from memory in one go, you can probably stop reading.

To the 99.9% of us who don't know everything there is to know about KML, and have been looking for a way to explore this curious little language, I present a new learning and exploration tool called the KML Interactive Sampler. One caveat, though -- since the sampler uses the Earth Browser Plug-in and API, the Earth view will currently only work on Windows.

Mac folks... be patient, a seriously awesome Mac version of the plugin is in the works!

Here are a few screenshots of the sampler to whet your appetite:

1. The sample list on the left contains a variety of predefined KML samples, organized hierarchically by topic (i.e. 'Lines and Paths', 'Polygons', etc.) Clicking a sample in the list will load the KML contents into the editor and display the KML in the Earth preview window (see below).
2. The instructions and useful links panel at the top contains instructions and other miscellaneous information about the currently loaded sample, as well as relevant links to the KML reference.
3. The source editor is the highlight of the sampler. Here, you can make local changes to the sample code and see how the new code looks in the Earth preview by clicking the 'Update Earth' button. And, you can even start a new KML document from scratch once you're ready. The editor has built-in syntax highlighting, so you'll be visually warned if you have an incorrect end tag somewhere. Many thanks to the developer(s) of CodeMirror for the outstanding text editor component.
4. And finally, the Earth preview, is an instance of the Google Earth Browser Plug-in that shows you the hard-earned results of your KML code.

So, if you're just starting out with KML, or brushing up on your existing skills or maybe just looking to play around with a cool new toy, definitely check out the new sampler. If you have any trouble using it, feel free to comment in the Getting Started with KML support forum.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Howdy, y'all. My name is Roman Nurik and I'm a newly minted member of the Google Geo APIs team. Some of you may already know me from the Earth Browser Plug-in Google Group. I recently started at Google's headquarters after 4 years at Boston University studying Computer Science and Marketing. My task here at Google is to help you all become experts with the Earth API and KML. In about 5 minutes, you'll realize how psyched I am about it, too.

Back in May before I joined the team, I remember reading one day that Google had released an Earth browser plugin. It really felt like a great moment; finally, immersive and lifelike exploration of geographic content was available to end users on the web, for free. Web developers were also given a cutting-edge tool to marry their existing geo-aware web apps with Google Earth, in all its spherical 3D glory (Maps/Earth integration mode ala G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP).

A few days after I started at Google on the Earth API team, I found a video of Paul Rademacher's Google I/O talk introducing the plugin. It got me thinking—if we can do fun stuff like drive a milk truck around a city crowded with 3D models of real buildings, and fly said milk truck off of our favorite local mountains, can we take this first-person-driver (FPD) concept and apply it to a more real-world problem? The problem of, say, familiarizing yourself with a new driving route before embarking on it in real life? The answer was clear: of course we can! And in that moment, the idea of an Earth plugin driving directions simulator was born!

After a surprisingly short time fiddling with the Earth and Maps APIs, the first version of the simulator was up and running. Pamela Fox and Mano Marks contributed some ideas and suggestions and the app grew rapidly! Today, I'd like to share the final result with all of you: the Google Earth Plug-in Driving Simulator. Please give the app a spin! Since the plugin currently only supports Windows, users who prefer Mac and Linux will need to borrow a Windows machine. Also, special thanks to the talented artist who contributed the Smart car model used in the app to 3D Warehouse.

Some screenshots (because 3 pictures are worth three thousand words):

The driving directions backend is powered by the GDirections API, which IMHO is a rock star. I also used jQuery, one of my favorite JavaScript libraries, to take the brunt of the work out of Firefox and IE compatible DOM manipulation.

If you have questions on how everything comes together, definitely post them to the previously mentioned Earth plug-in group and I'll be sure to clear things up.

I've had a great experience writing this small app and I'm really psyched to help you all get pumped up and ready to code with the awesome new Earth API. For those of you who haven't tried it out yet—what are you waiting for? As with all of our APIs, the developer community is growing and providing free support at the Earth Browser Plug-in Google Group if you run into trouble. We'd also love to see the cool stuff you're working on!

Thanks for reading; have fun with the driving simulator app! Even more so, have fun with the Earth API! And as always, stay tuned to the Geo Developers blog for more Earthy goodness.