Building 3d models is becoming a necessary feature on modern maps. In fact Microsoft Virtual Earth had 3d models a long time before google did - though is stup

Building 3d models is becoming a necessary feature on modern maps. In fact Microsoft Virtual Earth had 3d models a long time before google did - though is stupidly only works on explorer. There are many players in this arena. I submitted this a few weeks ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=800705 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=800705 Some companies are actually setting up click-shops in 3rd world countries to get them to create the models. All that said I don't believe that 3d models are a killer feature for maps b/c they don't help you very much in day to day decisions. But make no mistake, there are a number of companies who are spending billions of dollars on large scale mapping operations that will give us incredibly rich information. Personally I believe that the map will become the interface to most data we consume. We exist in the world, and the map will be our link to it's underlying data. I believe the geo-browser will one day trump the web browser. Or the web browser will become a geo-browser.