The Map Room is reporting that 3D imagery for five new cities has been added to Virtual Earth.  The new cities include the following:

- Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN
- Tacoma, WA
- Sacramento, CA
- Various L.A. suburbs
- Irving, TX

It definitely seems like an odd choice of cities since larger ones such as Chicago, New York, and Miami have not been added.  If you don't know, Virtual Earth's 3D feature was launched back in the beginning of November.  It allows you to fly through 3D versions of (now 20) major cities.

The Map Room's post also noted that Virtual Earth's imagery for Italy has been significantly upgraded.  They speculate that the new imagery is a result of a recent deal between Microsoft and a Norwegian pictometry company.

source-liveside.net