Microsoft?s Stephen Lawler gives a brief tour of Google Earth’s future competitor, Virtual Earth. A short rendezvous through its hyperreal 3D cityscapes reveals a staggering amount of detail into focus. Even at the beta-stage, Virtual Earth shows incredible potential. Images look crisp and navigation seems pretty accurate. Microsoft?s visions for the product ? as a provider of real-time weather and traffic data, or a realistic backdrop for game developers and IM conversations, or virtual ad space ? all seem well within the limits of possibility.