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Microsoft map incorporates 'virtual billboards'
A new mapping application from Microsoft offers a glimpse into the future of online advertising.Virtual Earth 3D, part of the software giant's Live Search, allows users to "fly" over virtual cities that are replicas of the real locations and that feature photorealistic graphics, CNET reports.
Residents will recognise landmarks but there will also be "virtual billboards" that float above buildings carrying an advertising message. As an example, Fox has a billboard above the AMC cinema in the virtual San Francisco.
Clicking on the ads will take users through to companies' websites.
The technology was developed by Massive, a company that specialises in in-game advertising. The firm has created models for 15 cities in the US, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas and Las Vegas. Browsers can switch between two-dimensional and three-dimensional views of the landscapes.
"It makes this virtual city environment capable of all kinds of advertising," commented Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence. "It signals a larger trend of the internet becoming more of a visually immersive environment. This takes mapping to the next level."
Massive is a media solution that "brings together publishers, developers, advertisers and gamers, who all benefit from the realism that advertising brings to video games across all platforms".
Search Marketing news posted on 08 November 2006
