Google Street View helps map how 600,000 trees grow down to the limb

Artificial intelligence coupled with Google Street View images has created hundreds of thousands of “digital twins” of trees across North America. The simulation could help city planners better predict how seasonal foliage boosts cooling or when growing branches may require trimming.

“If you can model the existing set of trees and you have a reasonable model of infrastructure like power lines, you can understand where you’re going to have trees growing into power lines that are potentially most harmful,” says …