EveryScape's platform takes the premise of Google's Street View feature a step further by allowing users to virtually walk up to and into local businesses. Currently, Aspen, Boston, Miami and New York are online at www.everyscape.com --with streets and public spaces like parks and beaches, as well as commercial areas available to explore. Users can search by business name, category or location, or roam freely by clicking and dragging on the accompanying map.

For about $20 per month, businesses can choose to give consumers a 360-view of their property, from the bar and tables for restaurants, to the entryway and rooms of a Bed & Breakfast. EveryScape is focused on recruiting local businesses as well as the travel and real estate markets--as according to Jim Schoonmaker, the company's president and CEO, this kind of visual content is most useful for place-based markets.

"Users can do a search for 'hotels near Paris' and get a long list of answers, or they can go to a virtual environment and see what the hotels actually look like, then go off to other Web sites and get more information," said Schoonmaker. "And we're trying to provide that unifying platform between info on the Web and real world content."

Advertisers also have the option to place billboards in the virtual space, and connect their EveryScape location to content from online info sites like Yelp, Yahoo Local and Flickr with one click. Schoonmaker said that the company will also make its virtual content available to third parties like advertisers' affiliate sites and local chambers of commerce.

Although the Real World Online's current scope is relatively limited, the company plans to introduce new cities like Laguna Beach and Cambridge in the coming months. EveryScape's sales team also aims to bring advertisers from metropolitan, suburban and rural areas into the program.

"What you see today is a small taste of the EveryScape platform," said Schoonmaker. "The Real World Online is a canvas--a work in progress that will rely on the community to determine its ultimate shape by adding discourse, texture and color." The company plans to recruit local amateur and professional photographers to help build out the content.