Agreed. This would be enormously useful for vacation rentals and real estate professionals. Add on and partnerships with virtual tour companies would be expansion value.
So like [1], for entire rooms? [1] http://www.trimensional.com/
More likely you'd use algorithms based on structure from motion, like in the Kinect. But that's definitely not the target market for these guys.
ya of course. Do you have more details? I'm interested myself.
No, but you should be able to find academic papers in standard databases like EBSCOhost (most major public libraries I've seen have a subscription that you can access by just getting a library card with proof of residency).