Where are the trees? Not Paris, new 'Green View Index' finds

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology project that maps trees in the world's major cities is making it easier for city officials and citizens to figure out where more green is needed.

The project, called Treepedia, uses Google Street View to create what the MIT team calls the Green View Index.

Carlo Ratti, director of MIT's Senseable City Lab, says trees play a critical role in urban environments. They help keep cities cool, mitigate pollution and flooding and just make the environments more pleasant places to live and work.

The website gives birds-eye views of 15 cities, with trees represented by green dots. Users can zoom into a neighborhood or street to see ground-level images.

The project plans on adding many more cities, making it easier to compare and share information.