CNET reports that Google and Multiverse (a Virtual World designing company) will soon announce a partnership.

http://www.news.com/Google-tools-to-power-virtual-worlds/2100-1043_3-6212325.html?tag=nefd.lede

It will be possible with this new "tool" to import 3D Warehouse objects and Google Earth photo into a virtual world and to move into it with your own "avatar".

It sounds like "my world" thing that Google is testing in an university...

the virtual world is going to be only a beta testing of world domination ;)
once graduated from labs, the world is going to be a matrix-like scene! But with googlebots (dribble).

Wonder if there's any bonus you get from imposing a "reality restriction" onto a virtual world, which could theoretically roam freely instead of just mirroring existing places? Perhaps it's helpful for virtual strolls through far-away places, similar to Google Street View?

i tested Multiverse about 6 month ago... only the demo client, but it was nothing spezial exept it is free for developers.

The interesting thing here isn't Multiverse. It's the fact that the Google Earth team have developed a way to export / translate GEarth data so that portions of it can be viewed on other 'worlds'.

In my vision of Google World we'll all be able to create our (smaller) 'home world' with friend's worlds in our galaxy. It will make our worlds more interesting if we can borrow 'real' world terrain, and even share terrain features between our worlds and friends'.

With an entire vitrtual world based off the real world, could that increase real property value? Probably not for normal people but what about for malls, big stores, etc?

I have this vision of my hometown berne, switzerland represented on a website, each shop is linked with some information about the real shop(opening hours, phone numbers e.t.c.) and some virtual shops providing the same goods, for example the svarovski store could be linked to a zanox affiliate shop selling svarovski juwels.

Additionally you could search for similar shops nearer to you, so you don't have to travel the whole city just to get your favorite sirop, maybe even walk trough some virtual representations of shops and check their products, scan the barcode and check it on codecheck.ch or compare the price of a specific coke bottle with another supermarket near you. Older people for example could select their goods in the virtual super market and some volunteers or unemplyed people can buy the goods in the real supermarket and deliver them with public transportation.

The library would be linked with google booksearch, their own booksearch, amazon and different other stores, maybe to a price comparsian site as well.

To put my vision short: You could use all the benefits of the internet for the real world as well.

I think this would be much eayser with an open way to generate real 3d worlds.