Google Street View has been added to so many real estate websites by now that it’s almost an expected part of the listing landscape. But there could be a change on the Street View horizon.

Google previously floated the idea of ads appearing in Street View that are tied to the listings in its Local Business Centre and Favourite Places program.

What makes it seem like more than an idea is Google’s recent filing of a patent application titled “Claiming Real Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising”. In other words, we could see something akin to virtual billboards appearing in a Street View image as users browse through an area.