Google to inject Google Maps with Online advertisements

Last week Google announced that they have been granted a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office, which will allow them to overwrite current advertisements that are featured on Street View, with up-to-date ads from advertisers. This pioneering technology would allow advertisers to pay for the privilege of putting new advertisements onto property and billboards in this new virtual world.

How would this work?

An apartment building manager could hang a virtual ‘For Sale’ sign on the outside of his building. This could then be removed and replaced with an alternate image once the property has sold in the real world.

It is still not apparent whether the ‘street view; function on Google maps will receive a sufficient amount of traffic to support this new advertising medium, however Microsoft has started showing ads on billboards in the ‘birds eye view’ on it’s maps.

What are the implications on business owners in ‘the real world’.

Let’s say I own a theatre in the West End, and Street Maps is showing an out of date banner on my building as it was photographed over 6 months ago.

What rights (if any) do I have in relation to deciding whom can place an advert for a new play on the ‘virtual representation’ of my ’physical’ property? As a building owner, am I entitled to a payment for the use of ‘advertising space’? Or, because the environment is ‘virtual’, do Google all the whole street map environment?

Also, just think, if the thought of a competitor bidding on your company name in AdWords was bad, then just wait until they bid £5 per click to showcase their virtual billboard over a real-life billboard you’re paying £5k a month for!

I foresee some interesting legal battles in relation to this if the technology is rolled out. Just imagine Google selling ‘virtual’ ad space at Wembley stadium. I am sure the owners will step up and demand a large piece of the pie!

When will we see start seeing these changes?

Well, not anytime soon because Google only holds the patent on the technology, which does not mean that they will go ahead and launch the service, or that other map providers will not either. Even if they do use the patent, it is not going to happen overnight.

I will keep you up to date on any developments on this, in the meantime please check out Clare’s awesome ‘Augmented Reality’ blog post.