Google's recent rumors about patenting virtual billboards for Google Street View is another foot closer to Google's complete entrance into the world of digital out-of-home. The latest buzz about the eventual new advertising avenue for Google has many advertisers talking--including virtual ads in video games like those that could be used in consoles like Microsoft's XBOX and those placed in interactive widgets for IPTV applications. Google's patent application speaks of 3D mapping environments, allowing them to place ads in Steet View via a database of billboard style graphics and consumer bar codes. 

The ability to use GPS to pinpoint your location prior to arriving and then seeing the locale in Google Street View while being fed specific out-of-home, billboard-style advertisements on a mobile device or desktop/laptop PC seems like a virtual outdoor digital signage application to me. Google's application will also allow participating advertisers to place signage within the "vitual" windows of their establishments with bar codes. These virtual ads could lead to additional information or special offers whose ROI can be measured immediately and tracked back to the Google ad without a hiccup. Their patent application says it all:

A user-selectable link is provided in relation to the region of interest. The link can be associated with a property owner, for example the property owner which owns the physical property portrayed. The link can alternatively be associated with an advertiser or a property owner which placed the highest bid on the image recognized within the region of interest (e.g., poster, billboard, banner, etc.). Any portion of the geographic display image in which the region of interest is located can be selectable (e.g., hot-linked). For example, the image of the coffee shop can be hot-linked to an advertisement for the coffee shop. In other examples, the coffee shop logo can be hot-linked to menu information, customer reviews, store hours, and/or other pertinent information. In some implementations, the property owner identifies a region of interest (e.g., the coffee shop sign and/or the coffee shop logo within the sign) for hot-linking ad information. In some implementations, user-selectable links are visually indicated. For example, a user-selectable region can be outlined, highlighted, or rendered in a brighter or shaded manner as compared to the remainder of the image. A user-selectable text link can be underlined, in bold, etc.

Google Street View ads can be a combination of local Internet search, digital signage, and mobile marketing. It's another one of Google's genius methods of giving away the 90% free and then feeding up advertisements as a way to ad to their billions in ad revenue. It's almost like Google is piloting digital signage virtually before they delve into the real possibility generally. Not a bad idea in my mind.