Latest Version of Google Earth Offers 3D Glimpse of Trees Worldwide

The latest version of Google Earth provides a 3D view of trees, an innovation that Google officials say will emerge as a forestry planning tool for governments, environmentalists, and indigenous peoples. While earlier versions of the software showed forest cover from a bird’s eye view worldwide, Google Earth 6 takes users beneath the canopy level to explore more than 50 different tree species, from olive groves in Greece to patches of bamboo in the Amazon. Google officials say they are working with different groups to use the software in conservation and reforestation projects, including efforts to map coastal mangrove forests in Mexico and the modeling of forest restoration projects in Kenya. “We want to make sure we’re adding in more information to make the planet more alive and more complete,” Peter Birch, Google Earth product manager, told Reuters. So far, Google has mapped 80 million trees in seven cities worldwide — including San Francisco, Chicago, Tokyo, and Athens — and in a section of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon.