With Google's existing mapping features you can pinpoint locations and then zoom in and check them out along with the surrounding community. It's not real time, but you'll get a good idea of where you are before you get there.

Street View uses data gathered by Immersive Media and is similar to Microsoft's "Street Side" rolled out in Seattle and San Francisco a year ago.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth/Live Search competes with Google Earth/Maps both online and with downloadable software.

A video from the Where 2.0 conference shows how the street level images are captured.

Much like "Gadgets" that spring from the "dock" on Apple Macintosh computers, Mapplets are mini-applications or Google Gadgets that pop up from Google Maps and other Google sites and can contain a variety of information including home listings, crime data and school information.

Use the Mapplet preview with a home listing that pops up with the address and other listing information. Then go to the Street View and walk the street, circle the block, view the neighborhood and check out the home in place. Not all homes listed are viewable. Users can create their own Mapplets and make them available to the public.

Also, users creating their own maps can select from a wide range of Google and third party Mapplets to display on the Google Maps site, combined with Google Maps' existing built-in local search and driving directions functions.