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Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is a markup language based on XML and useful for describing and implementing 2D and 3D visual shapes on HTML-based browsers. KML, first launched as a tool to serve the Google Earth application, was named Keyhole after the company managing this project. Keyhole was later consolidated into Google in 2004. The name Keyhole was finally changed to Google Earth.
Techopedia Explains Keyhole Mark-up Language
The Keyhole military reconnaissance satellites launched during 1970s were employed for the purpose of taking the earliest eye-in-the-sky photos seen on Google Earth and other related service providers. The company Keyhole was actually named after these satellites.
The 2D and 3D Web based applications typically use the KML file format, which specifies many features suiting those types of applications. For instance, KML includes features like placemarks, 3D models, text descriptions, images, polygon shapes and other graphical features.
A camera view is associated with multiple data types like heading, altitude and tilt. There are multiple shared symbols between KML and Geography Markup Language, which is another XML based markup language used to describe geographical features.
