I'm pretty sure you could do it with Bryce 5. What inspired me was this website: http://www.shadedrelief.com/ and http://www.reliefshading.com/index.html which have lots of useful information on how to produce good shaded relief 'real world' maps.

At the moment I think the google earth textures are OK but a bit too blurred. I'll have to find a way of increasing the resolution of them.

The other point I am considering is getting the right detail for the right scale of map. The ones I have prodcued above look like they might be measured in 10s of miles on each edge. It would be quite nice if one could produce smaller scale maps, drop in 3d objects of landmarks etc.

What I might do is experiment with displacement painting the bryce mesh to make forests look more '3d'. It'll have to wait until next week though.

Ravs