Yeah, this definitely doesn't look like lidar data... unless its really low quality. The buildings show spatial depth, but the cars and pedestrians are pretty much all in a circle (they have no depth).
I don't know much about lidar but.. is it possible Google have done this intentionally with some sort of algorithm? After all, pedestrians and vehicles are just "noise" in the context of mapping/visualising streets.
I think they have removed the cars from the lidar on purpose as there would be privacy issues if the cars were shown. Same would apply for pedestrians and shop facades.
Interesting - I've seen it touted as LiDAR data but since it's all a bit unofficial, I guess it could be anything. I'll see if I can dig up any old articles about it - it's been there for quite some time.
