Nearly two years after releasing a browser plugin allowing Google Maps API developers to embed Google Earth into a web page, Google has integrated “Earth view” into the Google Maps site itself: “Earth” is now a tab beside “Map” and “Satellite,” displacing “Terrain” (now found under “More”). Downloading the browser plugin is still required. CNet, Google LatLong, Official Google Blog.

This is not to deprecate the standalone Google Earth application. From the Official Google Blog: “Current Google Earth users, of course, will continue to enjoy the full power of the standalone application: KML editing, historical imagery, GPS tracks, tour-creation, Mars, Sky, flight simulator and so on. But for quick online access, the power of 3D will also be available at the click of a[n Earth] button.”