"All models are wrong, some models are useful." Some are more wrong and more useful simultaneously ;) This is actually the typical state of things in numerical simulation: we have infinite-resolution differential equations modeling such physical systems, but to implement them in silico we need to discretize and approximate various aspects of those models to achieve usefulness re: time and accuracy. Google has merely gone one level further in the tradeoff.

For more info on Google's approach, look into surrogate models. It's becoming more common especially in things like weather and geology.