In 2012 Google congratulated itself on adding new species of tree to it’s 3D mode, but seemingly little has happened since.
Initially, trees were modelled programmatically and foliage textures were added to the structures. At one stage there were upwards of 30 tree species, but these could be found only in heavily surveyed areas. At some later point, tree structures were incorporated from real-world data – street view, aerial and satellite. A mesh that more or less accurately portrayed real trees was used and overlaid with photo-based textures. Probably due to the resolution of imagery and/or some additional computation, Google 3D trees are a mixture of the semi-real, the augmented and the abstract blob. The trees usually map onto real trees but the realisation of them can be fanciful.
Google seems to be happy for us to get the illusion of accuracy at a distance but to enjoy the flaws when closer. Larger and wider trees can even be entered into and the mesh that creates the tree is seen, from the inside out .
