Google on Wednesday added the browser as a client option for its corporate geospatial tools and introduced an API for rendering 2-D maps and adding them to Web-based applications.The company is giving users choices for expanding the reach of its Google Earth Enterprise, which provides users an online mapping service they can integrate with their own proprietary data, for example, adding real-estate information to maps of homes for sale in a particular neighborhood.Google Earth Enterprise is the company’s 3-D mapping tool, which comprises Google Earth Fusion for integrating corporate data with maps, Google Earth Server and the Google Earth EC client for rendering images in 3-D. Google now is adding to that package the new Google Maps API JavaScript, which lets any 3-D image be rendered in 2-D within any browser behind a firewall. The 2-D maps are much like the ones users see today on the publicly available Google Maps Web site, and include the ability to search. In addition, the API lets users integrate 2-D maps into any Web-based application.“We have adapted the public Google Maps API to go directly against a private database,” says Noah Doyle, product manager for Google Maps and Google Earth Enterprise.Google also is enhancing the search framework of Google Earth Enterprise to include Java plug-ins that support integration with multiple search engines, including Google Search Appliance. Google says its intent is to make it easier for companies to push geospatial data out to more users. The company also is including support for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and SSL to address corporate security and access-control demands.Some Google customers, such as the South Florida Water Management District, are using Google Earth Enterprise for 3-D mashups of Google Maps data and the water district’s own spatial data and aerial photography.Competitors — for example, Microsoft with its Virtual Earth — also are pushing mapping as a key online service. Google Earth Enterprise is delivered in a hybrid model, with Google mapping data delivered as an online service that companies integrate with their own firewall-protected data resources.The new geospatial tools also include Keyhole Markup Language data-processing tools for creating “super overlays” that let users view large collections of images in the Google Earth client, and for publishing large collections of images.The version of Google Earth Enterprise with 2-D capabilities and browser support starts at $20,000. JavaTechnology Industry