Google, in collaboration with Genesys International and Tech Mahindra, announced the launch of Street View in India on Wednesday.
More than 100 different countries have access to Street View. For Indian consumers, this makes navigation easier and more accurate. Google’s vice president Miriam Daniel said that the Street View APIs, which have been available to international partners for a long time, will soon be made available to local partners.
India’s Geospatial Policy says that only entities run by Indian citizens can collect geospatial data that is more accurate than the threshold value of one metre horizontally and three metres vertically. With the help of Google and Genesys International, the Street View service will be available for one million kilometres by the end of the year. Google’s logistics service supplier will be Tech Mahindra.
Speed limits (for Bengaluru and Chandigarh), information on impending road closures, a project to reduce carbon emissions (for Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Hyderabad), and an environmental insights explorer are additional features that are in the works (Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai).
In addition to landmark-based navigation, information on public transportation, offline maps, two-wheeler routes, voice navigation in eight Indian languages, plus codes’ addresses in crowded places, and toll booth information, Google has included a number of innovations that are firsts for India. To date, Google has worked with 250 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 60 universities, 30 governmental organisations, and 15 research organisations.
According to Miriam Daniel, vice-president,
This is the first time that Google Street View is being completely brought to life by local partners. After extensive on-ground work, Street View will be available on Google Maps with fresh imagery of ten cities in India. They (the partners) have covered 150,000 kilometers in India. We plan to expand to 50 cities soon. Real estate companies and tourist companies canv take advantage of Street View in India
