via O’Reilly Radar again (subscribe if you don’t already):

It adds the ability to create and share maps directly from Google's site (you can see a map that I created above). These maps will be added to Google geoindex and will be available to search in Google Earth and in Local Search. These maps will be syndicated via KML; support for GeoRSS syndication is coming (not surprising given that GeoRSS can be consumed by these maps - Radar post). Users are able to create their own maps and mark them public or private. The annotation tools that are provided are very simple and easy to use. Users are able to add lines, polygons and placemarks. They can edit those placemarks with HTML, images, and video. Once a map is created it is very easy to share it and syndicate it via KML. Items found during a local search can be added to a map with a click. Places found via GeoRSS or KML files can also be added to a map.

You can try it out on the maps site presuming you have a google login. I played with it and it worked fairly easy. While not a competitor to probably most mapping offerings I can see it taking the place of some of the simpler map sharing services. Tt might be simple to create mapped pages for library collections or exhibits without doing much programming with this new service, and with the export methods use it for your own mashups. Here’s an example they have of oral histories of Route 66.

But as O’reilly points out what is really interesting is that the search now includes georss and kml sources that have been indexed. Meaning that if you share a map or geocode material on your website, it’s quite possible that your locations/information will show up when someone searches the map. As he puts it:

I think that this release will further push site creators to add KML and GeoRSS as a syndication format; this latest move will make it foolish for a content creation site that has geo content to not syndicate via KML and GeoRSS.

If you have digital collections with geodata here is something you might want to look into.