New KML Developments and Documentation

As we announced at Where 2.0 and Google Developer Day, there are two
exciting new developments in KML. (1) There's new documentation. For
instance, we now have a page on Google's search for KML files, and how
to best publish your KML files so that Google will index them. In
particular KML will be extended to include Atom Syndication format
'atom:author' and 'atom:link' elements for attribution. This will allow
you to assign attribution to your KML files on a Feature by Feature
level. Google chose to use the Atom elements because of our commitment
to open standards. (2) There's a new beta reference for KML 2.2. This
is in a very early stage, and Google Earth and Maps do not yet support
new elements in KML 2.2, but it gives you an idea what we're thinking
about. Particularly, check out the references for PhotoOverlay, Camera,
and the new Atom elements in Feature. From the web site: "KML is a
file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser, such
as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile. KML uses a
tag-based structure with nested elements and attributes and is based
on the XML standard. An important new element in KML 2.2 is 'Camera',
which provides an additional way to specify the observor's viewpoint
and associated view parameters. 'Camera' is similar to 'LookAt', since
both elements define the placement and orientation of a virtual camera
that is viewing the Earth. The difference is that LookAt specifies the
view in terms of the point of interest that is being viewed. Camera,
in contrast, specifies the view in terms of the viewer's position and
orientation. KML 2.2 also adds the 'AbstractView' element, which is a
new base abstract type from which 'LookAt' and 'Camera' are derived.
The new 'PhotoOverlay' element allows you to geographically locate a
photograph on the Earth and to specify the placement and orientation
of the Camera that views this PhotoOverlay. The PhotoOverlay can be a
simple 2D rectangle, a partial or full cylinder, or a sphere (for
spherical panoramas). The overlay is placed at the specified location
and oriented toward the Camera. You can also now create KML files
that display objects in the sky, such as stars, constellations,
planets, the Earth's moon, and galaxies."