New Shopping APIs and Deprecation of the Base API

We are pleased to announce our newest addition to the shopping family — a simple yet powerful programmatic interface that enables retailers to upload their content to Google and query data from Google. The new Shopping APIs have two components: Content and Search. As part of this launch, we’re are also deprecating the Base API and replacing it with today’s new Shopping APIs.

The Content API for Shopping allows retailers to upload product data to Google for use in multiple places online like Google Product Search, Product Ads, Google Affiliate Network, Google Commerce Search, and Shopping Rich Snippets.

The Search API for Shopping makes it easy for our Google Commerce Search customers, Google Affiliate Network publishers, and developers to build innovative applications using product data.

The Shopping APIs replace the Base API
These new Shopping APIs replace the existing Google Base Data API for our content providers and search applications. We are deprecating the Base API and will fully retire it on June 1, 2011. For existing developers making the switch, we’ve provided a Migration Guide to help.

You can read more details about these announcements on the Google Merchant Center blog and our FAQ on Google Base Data API Deprecation.

Introducing the Maps API Demo Gallery

Posted by Pamela Fox, Google Maps API Team

Why re-invent the wheel when you can copy and paste our wheel instead?

In the Google Maps API group and in my Inbox, developers often ask me questions such as “How do I draw a circle on the map?” or “How do I create groups of toggle-able markers?” Most of those questions are answered in the usage of little demo applications that I or one of our great external developers have put together. Previously, you have had to hunt through multiple places — blog posts, developer sites, and group posts — to find links to those demos. Well, start saving your hunting skills for the inevitable apocalypse. Our new Maps API Demo Gallery aggregates these demos togther, displaying a gallery of 40+ mini-applications with thumbnails, descriptions, and easy-to-read source code. Check out a standalone embedded version of this gallery below, and contact me if you’d like some of your own demos included in it.