Just a few hours after the Google Earth browser plugin went live, enabling Javascript-savvy developers to host instances of 3D Google Maps on their websites (in Windows browsers), Virgil Zetterlind of EarthNC has gone and made it possible for us plebs to turn any KML/KMZ URL and Google MyMaps URL into an embeddable map for any website using the iframe tag — no developer API key required!
Instructions are here, and the actual tool itself is called the the TakItWithMe.com Google Earth Embedded Map Tool. Considering what it does, Virgil can call it anything he likes:-)
Here’s an example using a previously created Google Mymap (in a separate window, as it generates a plugin warning popup for Mac users).
This begs the question – what is to stop a for-pay site using EarthNC’s system to circumvent Google’s Maps API terms that prohibit using a (free) Map API key on a non-free site.