Search, browse and explore the world in three dimensions. Via Google or Microsoft. While the Mountain View Company has introduced SketchUp, an Internet tool designed to enable users to create 3D images of various geographical locations, Microsoft has chosen to invest. The Redmond Company had begun commissioning professional photographers to take pictures from 15 US cities. The images will be used to create three dimensional models in Virtual Earth 3D. Microsoft intends to make these models explorable and enable its users to search and browse urban landscapes.

The final product will be more than a cartography service. Users will have a fully interactive online environment at their disposal that will closely reproduce actual locations. Not only will Virtual 3D enable you to walk the streets of cities that you have never set foot into, or visit museums, but also to shop or obtain information. Internet analyst Greg Sterling said: "A seed is being planted that could grow into a range of things that will be very interesting."

The only question is who will be the first one there. Currently, both Microsoft and Google claim that their respective mapping services have been downloaded over 100 million times.