Google announces Google Places API

BANGALORE, INDIA: Search engine giant Google has announced the availability of Google Places API for developers at the Google I/O 2011, annual developer conference.

Google Places API is a service that returns information about Places, defined within the API as geographic locations, or prominent points of interest using HTTP requests.

"After the launch the Developer preview of Places API at Google I/O 2010, we received overwhelming response from the developer community and amazed by the innovative use cases suggested for the API," said Thor Mitchell, product manager at Google Maps API team.

He added, "We’re very excited to make all of these great Places services available to all of our Maps API developers. We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting access to the Places API, and we appreciate your patience."

Features of Google Places API includes:

* A globally consistent type scheme for Places, spanning more than 100 types such as bar, restaurant, and lodging

* Name and type based query support

* A significantly simpler key based authentication scheme

* Global coverage across every country covered by Google Maps

* Google APIs Console integration, which provides group ownership of projects, key management, and usage monitoring

* Instant reflection of new Places submitted by an app in subsequent searches made by that app, with new Places shared with all apps after moderation

* Real time re-ranking of search results based on current check-in activity, so that Places that are currently popular are automatically ranked higher in searches by your app

Developers who are interested to start working on the new API can refer the instructions in the documentation for obtaining an APIs console key, and enabling the Places API on that key.