Google announced that it will stop offering its Google Earth API a year from now. The company says it’s going away for security reasons, and in accordance with its policy, will offer it for another year before turning it off.
Google had this to say on its Geo Developers blog:
Over six years ago we introduced the Google Earth API, enabling developers to build rich 3D mapping applications in the browser, using JavaScript. And over the years, developers have built quite a number of fascinating applications.
However, the Earth API is built on a technology called the NPAPI plugin framework, and recently, for security reasons, both Chrome and Firefox have announced they’re removing support for this framework. These security reasons, combined with dwindling cross-platform support (particularly on mobile devices), had made building applications that leverage the Earth API untenable for developers.
While the API may technically be around for a while, due to the browser security threats, most browsers will only support the API up to the latest versions. You can see the list here.
The API will officially be shut down on December 12, 2015.
Image via Google