Two more things of interest in this ZDNet article about AGI2006:

• Last weekend’s dataset update included 15-centimeter resolution for the first time in areas like the Netherlands and Japan, ZDNet reports.
• Microsoft Virtual Earth is getting updates — there’s people search, new bird’s eye views in the US, and drawing tools. The most illuminating information actually comes from this post on the developers’ blog. The big picture: Microsoft continues to develop mapping features in-house that Google can rely on a community of developers for. These divergent strategies continue to be clearly defined.

Oh, and I’ve just had it confirmed that there will be an updated version of Google Earth, though not necessarily in the next few hours — in other words, I won’t be staying up for it:-)