I’ve been covering the 3D Virtual World Space quite a bit lately - especially after attending Virtual Worlds 2007 recently, in New York, and also as the Web Analytst for IBM’s new Second Life Virtual Business Office.

However, some are speculating where Google is going with developments that improve Google Earth’s 3D interactive functionality and it’s acquisition of SketchUp last year - will Google end up dominating 3D Virtual Worlds what they have done for Search?

Enter - Google Licenses Technology for 3D Maps via TechCrunch.

The new technology will allow photo-realistic 3-D maps of cities creating the possibility that the 3-D data could be used as a basis to launch a virtual world, or licensed to existing online worlds such as Second Life.

The technology differs from the existing 3-D rendering in Google Earth; the licensed technology will allow Google to model 3-D cities using computer power alone and without the need for developer input.

So the technology is portable to other 3D Virtual Worlds …. perfect. I already covered, over at Webmetricsguru.com, new software that will take AutoCad Files and turn them into 3D Virtual Structures in Second Life in a matter of minutes (this has been a major stumbling block of development in Second Life - just building anything is somewhat clumsy - doable - but time consuming till you get the hang of it …and even then….not that user friendly).

I’ve been covering the 3D Virtual World Space quite a bit lately - especially after attending Virtual Worlds 2007 recently, in New York, and also as the Web Analytst for IBM’s new Second Life Virtual Business Office.
However, some are speculating where Google is going with developments that improve Google Earth’s 3D interactive functionality and it’s [...]