Microsoft is adding 3D maps to Virtual Earth, reports Marshall Kirkpatrick on Techcrunch. You can see an implementation on Live Search right now.

It is very impressive. This is a huge step forward for Live Search, giving it capabilities previously only found in desktop applications like Google Earth.

Check out this view of the Las Vegas strip (Click on each image for a closer look).

It does require downloading and installing a separate package in order to see the 3D imagery – but once you’ve installed it, the effect is stunning and you quickly forget you’re using an web-based application.

It was particularly thrilling to be able to overlay realtime traffic data onto the map and imagine the possibility of navigating other data sets in three dimensions (Zestimates, home for sale, etc.).

Virtual Earth 3D is currently only available in 15 cities and you’ll need a high end computer and the latest versions of Internet Explorer to view it (sorry, no Firefox).

What’s even more interesting is Seattle real estate broker John L. Scott and discount broker ZipRealty are part of a beta group of advertisers who have launched virtual billboards inside Virtual Earth 3D maps. The 3D billboards are clickable hyperlinks.

This is really moving online advertising into a whole new arena. I’ve written before about advertising in virtual worlds, but I’d always though Google Earth would be the first mover here. Kudos to the Microsoft Virtual Earth teams for delivering a knockout product.

Share on Facebook

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Red Herring Magazine to comment on a piece they were working on about the new crop of Web 2.0 real estate companies. [Interestingly, only days after I spoke with the reporter, she announced she had moved over to tech-industry blogger Om Malik's new site GigaOm.]

You can read it today in Real Estate’s Web Wake-up.

Redfin, ZipRealty, Zillow and Move.com are all profiled in the piece.

A couple of choice quotes I’ve pulled from the piece.

Online brokers also aim to profit from everyone’s thirst for richer information.

I think this line hits on the crux of the whole Real Estate 2.0 phenomenon. A thirst for richer information. The online brokers, like Redfin have responded first to this need. Traditional brokers can (and should) do the same however.

How the Internet impacts brick-and-mortar real estate agents remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt that real estate advertising, long the domain of newspaper classifieds, is moving to the web.

Absolutely – I’ve said this all along; Time’s Running Out For Print Advertising. The buyers have largely migrated to the ‘net already, and so should sellers.

…content-focused companies like Zillow and Google—with mapping and market information making up the bulk of their offerings—argue that they can weather a downturn because they depend not on transaction commissions, but on selling ads. And in a tougher market, sellers and agents will be forced to do more advertising to get homes sold.

I suppose this an argument could be made for this. But Real Estate 2.0 Survival Prospects aren’t all rosy. In any downturn (if one exists) marketing budgets are often the first thing that gets axed. The opposite should happen, but rarely does unfortunately.

But with the rise of information sites like Zillow, real estate agents may need to shift their focus away from marketing (which is really all listings are) and instead focus on acting as midwives for the huge life event of buying or selling a house.

I don’t think agents should shift their focus away from marketing. I hope that doesn’t happen anyway…what would I write about here? Seriously however, I believe that agents still have a important role to play in marketing a property, they’re just going have to market smarter and more effectively. All of these new Web 2.0 sites will help but they’re only one component of a smart marketing plan.

Share on Facebook