Google Plans to Upgrade Old Billboards in Street View

According to a new patent that was just granted to Google, the company could soon extend the reach of its advertising program in Google Maps to Street View.

This patent, which was originally filed on July 7, 2008, describes a new system for promoting ads in online mapping applications. In this patent, Google describes how it plans to identify buildings, posters, signs and billboards in these images and give advertisers the ability to replace these images with more up-to-date ads. In addition, Google also seems to plan an advertising auction for unclaimed properties.