Interesting
announcement from Yahoo Maps this week.  Seems as though Google,
Yahoo and Amazon (with it's A9 entry) are starting to look like three
NASCAR competitors on the backstretch of the lap before the finish
line.  Here's the latest from Yahoo:

==========================

November 02, 2005

Announcing New Maps APIs

In June of this year, we gave developers the ability to overlay
geographic data on a Yahoo! Map. Since then, we've seen a lot of
terrific maps mash-ups. But you wanted more. You wanted the ability to
embed Yahoo! Maps on your own Web site. You wanted to programmatically
convert addresses into geocoded longitude/latitude pairs. You wanted
more data feeds, such as highway traffic and local data, to plot on a
map. But most importantly, you wanted a user experience that's better
than any online mapping product out there.

Today we build on the success of the Simple Maps API
by adding several new APIs for Yahoo! Maps. These products enable
developers to use Yahoo! Maps in exciting new ways — including
embedding maps on your Web site.

With this release, we are providing:

• APIs for both Flash and AJAX to give you a choice of presentation models
  
• Specific support for ActionScript and Macromedia Flex for Yahoo! Maps developers targeting Flash
  
• New “building block” APIs, including geocoding, traffic information, map images, and local search.
  

Of course, the Simple Maps API
we released in June is still there, giving developers and
non-developers the ability to plot locations on Yahoo! Maps with no
programming and no rate limits.

We're giddy with excitement about this release, and we can't wait to
see how you use the new APIs. We know there's lot to digest here, so if
you have questions, feedback, or just want to show off what you've
done, please join us in the yws-maps group.

Jeffrey McManus


Director, Yahoo! Developer Network