Google Sets End Date for Google Earth API

Goodbye, Google Earth API. Google has officially announced that it'll be killing off said API at the end of next year—December 12 of 2015, specifically. And before you shed a tear for all of your favorite tie-in websites that embed Google Earth on their pages in some capacity, know that Google put some thought into the API's departure. This isn't just a snap decision.

First off, the Google Earth plugin wouldn't be able to live on anyway, thanks to Google's concerns over browser security.

"...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," Google product manager Ken Hoetmer writes.

Beyond that, nobody is really using Google Earth. According to Venturebeat, Google says that only 9.1 percent of Chrome users fired up the Google Earth plugin in October of last year. This year, that number is down to miniscule 0.1 percent.

Google's listing of supported browsers during the depreciation period should come with an asterisk, because the Google Earth API needs browsers to support NPAPI. If newer versions of Chrome and Firefox don't, then the plugin won't work on those; people interested in using it will have to run older versions of these browsers. And the same holds true for Internet Explorer or Safari, if either Microsoft or Apple decide to remove NPAPI support for the framework in their browsers as well.

"Google Earth has a proud legacy, which continues with the new Google Earth for Android, powered by a brand new renderer. 3D is in our blood, and while we can't announce anything just now, we look forward to sharing more exciting product news in the future," Hoetmer writes.

According to VentureBeat, Google's tease allegedly involves the company expanding 3D in other Google products at some point going forward. As to what, and when, we'll just have to wait and see.