Google announced today that KML has become an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Standard. This means that Google will no longer be responsible for maintaining the KML file format which, instead, will be handled by OGC. KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is a file format that uses XML-based language to manage geographic information. Originally, KML was used to display data in Google Earth and Google Maps but with the adoption by the OGC, KML files will become a standard for managing spatial data across a variety of mapping applications. The statement from Google’s LatLong Blog:

KML was originally created as a file format for Google Earth, allowing users to overlay their own content on top of our base maps and imagery. It’s since become something much larger — KML has become the HTML of geographic content, the dominant way to share user-created maps online. There are now tens of millions of KML files available online, hosted on more than 100,000 unique domain names. KML is supported by a large and growing number of vendors and products, and can no longer simply be described as Google Earth’s file format. Because it has transcended Google Earth in scope, and even outgrown Google itself, we have decided to give it away.

The statement about KML being the HTML of geographic content is debatable.

More on this news:

• OGC Approves KML as Open Standard – OGC Press Release
• KML: A new standard for sharing maps – Google LatLong Blog
• Google mapping spec now an industry standard - C|Net News