Google has now officially launched the Google My Business API in order to make it more efficient for larger businesses with many locations to manage their listings.

Here are the features of this API:

Create business locations with information such as name, address, phone number, category, business hours, and more
Manage special hours
Mark a business location as permanently closed
Manage business photos
List, invite and remove managers on locations and business accounts
Read listing state to identify Google updated, duplicate and suspended locations
Search/Filter locations by name, category and label
Set the service area for a business either by specifying a point and radius or Place IDs

The full API documents and guides can be found at developers.google.com/my-business.

This can be a great thing for developers and businesses.

Forum discussion at Google My Business Help and Local Search Forums.