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June 13, 2011
Google finally drops more 3D trees into Google Earth
When Google Earth 6 was released late last year, it brought with it the oft-requested feature of 3D trees. However, since that time, Google has only added a few additional sets of trees to Google Earth. The most notable was the substantial addition in London in preparation for the Royal Wedding.
Now Google has added trees in quite a few more cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, London and various cities in the California Bay Area. New York and London already had 3D tree coverage, so we can assume their coverage areas have been expanded with this latest release.
3D tree coverage makes an enormous difference in the realism of a particular area. As we said when they first unveiled this feature, it's something we've been waiting a long time for and we're glad they did such a fine job of building it. Now if we can just get some more trees added (Atlanta, please?), things will be even better!
To see them for yourself, simply open up Google Earth and fly to one of the cities listed above. Be sure that the "Trees" layer is checked under "3D Buildings" in the main "Layers" section on the left side of your Google Earth window.
Here's a short video that Google created to show off some of the new trees:
Posted by mickmel at June 13, 2011 7:21 AM
Comments
Posted by: wroman at June 13, 2011 7:36 AM
Since this post has something to do with the 3D features of the application I'm going to say here that they expanded building maker coverage to downtown Ottawa, though Google doesn't seem to have mentioned or announced it. Kind of sneaky, though I've made several buildings now via that application.
Posted by: Justin at June 13, 2011 11:52 AM
They should make a special application to plant tree. Where you can select type and sizes of the trees. I would love to plant some trees in Zürich Switzerland
Posted by: Nils at June 13, 2011 11:52 PM
I would love to see some trees in South Africa, maybe Johannesburg? Is there a way for Google Earth Users to add trees to GE? We could assist in documenting the world's trees!
Posted by: Stefan at June 14, 2011 2:42 AM
That's cool. I'm liking the trees.
Posted by: RC Helicopter at June 15, 2011 1:30 AM
what song is this?
Posted by: jr_bob dobbs at June 16, 2011 8:21 PM
Is there any scientific paper (or other source) on the method with which location, age/height and species of different forest stands were determined? Did Google identify the trees from satellite images or is it based on existing vegetation data or is it a mix of both? Does anybody have any suggestions?
Posted by: Olaf at July 11, 2011 7:53 PM
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Should make an application as Building Maker to put trees on Google Earth, Google approves (how in Google SketchUp) to be selected as a model for Google Earth in layer "Trees "