Those ads would be tied into the listings in the Google Local Business Center and the Google Favorite Places program, which lets participating merchants put signs in their windows with bar codes leading to additional information or special offers.

Here are the areas where Street View is currently availableThe patent raises a lot of questions. We dont even know for sure that Google will do this, but it certainly does seem like a possibility. Google did recently start incorporating AdSense into Google Earth, seemingly sidestepping its own guidelines for AdSense on desktop applications. How would the advertisers of the reallife billboards feel about this? Of course billboards change over time, and likely much more frequently than Googles imagery is updated, so there is a good chance that advertisers will find others advertising on the real estate they currently hold in the real world in Google Street View as it stands now. Still, it is hard to imagine this scenario going down without any hiccups and possibly legal challenges. Its something to keep an eye on, and potentially a very interesting new way to advertise. Related Articles Google Ignoring Its Own Policy on Desktop AdSense?