Potentially on the horizon, there could be digital “outdoor” ads available on Google Maps, as Google was recently granted a patent for placing virtual billboard ads in their Google Maps Street View. Inevitably, the Google vans that drove around recording routes for their Street View tool also captured billboards along the way. However, these ads become outdated over time, as they exist within Google Maps (Which leads to, oh heavens, no, wasted ad space?!).

The patent details how advertisers can update the billboard ad within Google Maps with a new ad, or that even, alternatively, a bidding system could be put in place for advertisers to bid for the ad spot on unclaimed properties. The patent also extends beyond billboards, mentioning other features such as “signs, posters and banners,” which could potentially mean any type of promotional features that are visible within a street view.

So what does this mean for Google and advertisers? It provides advertisers with another opportunity to reach consumers and another revenue stream for Google. Actually, I think I should rephrase that to another “relevant” opportunity. In my mind, this would be like combining outdoor advertising with the relevance of search, where a consumer is actively seeking out information about a topic or a brand, in this case, a location, and advertisers are then presenting an advertisement that is relevant to that search. For example, a business could post an advertisement near their location for a sale; if a consumer is searching for their business or maybe the plaza that business is located in, they’ve now reached out to a pre-qualified consumer and provided additional incentive to visit the physical location.

Now, I should emphasize, the news is simply on the patent getting approved, but it seems pretty likely an initiative would be at the top of the Google pipeline for applying this within their maps tool. Overall, I don’t think this would surprise many of us, as this seems like a natural advertising opportunity for Google Maps, but what will this mean for owners of billboards in the real world? Or even the advertisers that are paying for those billboards already? Is Google entitled to simply resell that space because they’ve captured it through their Street View technology?

Additionally, it’s not a big leap to think more advertisements could be added in virtually by Google within Google Maps, beyond the billboards that get recorded from the real world, so the ownership questions could be moot. Either way, it should be interesting to see how this shakes out if, or when it moves forward, and what sort of advertising model gets put in place.

The image of this post displays the new real estate on Google Maps.