LONG BEACH, Calif. – What's better than two-dimensional satellite images of Google Maps? How about photorealistic 3-D modeling of a flyover?

C3 Technologies, a Swedish spinoff of the aerospace and defense company Saab AB, has taken technology used by the Swedish military to guide missiles in real time and turned it into a commercial application for licensing. Using images captured by plane, the software converts the video into 3D models of a city, which can be overlaid with digital billboards, social networking comments and traditional mapping legends to call out landmarks and other sites.

CEO Mattias Åström, speaking at the Technology Entertainment and Design conference last week, said his company has mapped 100 cities so far and produces its high-resolution 3-D models from aerial images, but can also combine them with 2-D maps and street-level photography.

The technology is currently being used in Europe by companies that make telephone directories.