Google Maps Brings Street View To India

Google Maps on Wednesday (July 27) announced the launch of its Street View service across 10 major Indian cities in collaboration with Genesys International Corporation and Tech Mahindra.

Google Street View will now be available across Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Ahmednagar, and Amritsar, among others. The three companies are planning to add 50 more cities by the year-end.

The India launch marks the first time in the world that Street View is being brought to life completely by local partners, Google said in a statement.

It is pertinent to note that the Indian government had denied the permission to launch Street View several times earlier. 

Following the launch, Miriam Karthika Daniel, VP at Google Maps Experiences said that the company remains committed to collaborating with local organisations as well as the government in order to work toward delivering more useful features and information on Maps. 

“We will continue to do this responsibly, enabling accurate, authentic, and trustworthy information,” said Daniel. “We look forward to extending our technology and expertise to the local ecosystem.”

Along with the launch, Google also said that it will collaborate with government bodies such as local traffic authorities to help improve road safety and reduce traffic congestion.

Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru said that the city’s traffic control had started a pilot with Google to optimise the traffic light configuration in order to reduce signal wait time for commuters. It resulted in an average wait time reduction of 20% per driver going through the pilot intersection during the day, he said.

“We are excited by the positive impact this can have on reducing traffic congestion, road rage, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. This is a testimony of the transformational impact the coming together of government and technology companies like Google can have on society,” he added.

Street View would help people navigate and explore places in the world on their phones or computers, in a more visual and accurate way, enabling an enhanced experience.

Besides, Google said that the Street View APIs will also be available to local developers, enabling them to deliver richer mapping experiences in their services. 

“In line with this, our partnership with Google is another step toward delivering high-quality and immersive mapping experiences to the people of India,” said Birendra Sen, Business Head, Business Process Services, Tech Mahindra.

Meanwhile, MapmyIndia, India’s digital maps and deeptech products and platforms company, also announced the launch of its 360-degree Panoramic Street View and 3D Metaverse Maps Service, named Mappls RealView, on Wednesday. 

MapmyIndia said that Mappls RealView will cover thousands of kilometres in metropolitan areas and cities such as Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Goa, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and hundreds of other towns.

The government has made several policy changes over the years for the ease of Indian startups providing navigation and digital map services. Recently, the guidelines were also updated to allow private companies to prepare a variety of maps without any government approvals.

Meanwhile, drone policies for various sectors and overall boost for spacetech have liberalised the geospatial segment further.

Riding the wave, MapmyIndia got listed on the Indian stock exchange in December 2021.

As per a report, India’s digital map market is projected to reach a market value of $1.4 Bn with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7% between 2022-2032.