Posted by Tom Manshreck and Bart Locanthi, Maps API Team


Back in May, we launched the Maps Data API, a programmatic way to interact with map data using Google's GData infrastructure. At the time, we offered a basic HTTP protocol and a Java library. The Java client library for the Maps Data API allows you to create robust Maps data applications without the need to manage raw HTTP requests. Instead, you can create an inherently more scalable application in Java, which handles all of the HTTP requests and responses for you.

We're happy to announce that we've updated the Java client library to add better Maps Data support, and have published an accompanying Java Developer Guide to get you started. The sample code within the developer guide is also included within the sample code available within the gdata-java-client library.

What did we add? In specific we added several helper methods which should make creating features easier:

  • The getFeatureFeed() method can now be used on a MapEntry object to return the URI of the map's feature feed directly, rather than requiring inspection of the map's associated feeds.
  • Creation of KML features has been augmented to not only work for features within KML files but provided as text strings. Simply call the FeatureEntry's setKml() method passing it the string.
  • The setKml() method also automatically sets the supplied KML to the appropriate mime-type and XML namespace.
The Javadoc reference contains full reference materials on all public methods in the API. We're actively adding more support to the Java client library and support for additional programming languages, so check back with us in the future.

As always, check out the Maps Data API group to discuss the API and let us know what features you'd like to see added to it.