Google Earth used to be called “Keyhole” before Google bought it, so the kml format is based on that original name.

kml is a way of writing information in a format that is based on xml standards. These are both formats containing information that was originally intended to be consumed and processed by computers (not people). xml has become well known for rss feeds and most newer browsers are built to read and display rss/xml in a pretty format.

kml will look much like xml when you look at the results (you have to save it and open it with notepad or a similar text editor). But kml up until recently is meant to be read by google earth. Now google is allowing any kml file hosted on the internet to be read by maps.google.com and each location in those files can be saved to your “my maps” account on google.

For more information on kml, including structure examples you can check here;
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/

This feature takes advantage of google’s mapping kml feature that allows any generated kml to be shown on a map.

Can you explain in detail for us geeky type folks what the KML is from Google? A little history lesson, current use of KML and what the letters stand for?