This paper introduces and defines the concept of a four-dimensional virtual environment as “multidimensional/multimedia representations of phenomena in natural and built environments permitting the realistic monitoring, analysis and evaluation of the component phenomena”. It is argued that current geographic information systems cannot handle these representations and so new tools need to be built. This paper describes two applications of virtual environments: the first is an application which can link oblique or vertical aerial videography to map or surface models in real-time, while the second example is an application which links a user-browseable virtual world with a map. The paper concludes by suggesting that the approaches demonstrated here are indicative of what the next generation of geographic information handling might look like.