On a fine Wednesday morning, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL. O) Google Maps relaunched its panoramic Street View in India. It took almost 11 years for Google to relaunch the service in the country. Currently, Google has partnered with Tech Mahindra and Geneses for providing Google street view to 10 cities across India. It is expected that this service will be available in 50 Indian cities by the end of the year.
Google street view offers a 360-degree view of the streets around the world. It makes use of the pictures clicked by cruising vehicles. Due to this, it has faced a lot of privacy complaints and regulatory scrutiny in many countries.
Back in 2016, India rejected Google Earth live street view over some security concerns of sensitive defense installations. The Indian government was concerned that technology could support terrorism and local media reports. A country like India has various military installations and high-security areas that are at risk of frequent attacks. Just like other Asian countries, even India controls the representation of the country’s international boundaries and disputed borders.
How Did Google Street View make re-entry to India?
Well, it is the introduction of India’s geospatial policy that came into existence last year that helped Google to relaunch in the country. Talking further about geospatial policy, it authorizes the local entities to carry out data collection at a certain level.
So, here Tech Mahindra and Geneses will be performing the process of data collection. They have ownership of the data collected by them, but they license it to entities like Google. With this, Google can integrate Google street view live and provide services like Google Maps.
In a press meeting, Google officials said that it is the first time the company has partnered with third-party firms for Street View. For India, these third-party firms are Tech Mahindra and Geneses. Google map live was first introduced almost 15 years ago, and today it is present in 100 countries and territories. The Google map street view 2022 has more than 220 billion Street View images from all over the world.
Google Street View in India
The Google street view started officially in India on Jul 27, 2022. It will be available on Google Maps with new images that cover an area of 150,000 kilometers (93,205 miles) of roads. All of this information has been integrated into Google Maps. Currently, this service is available in 10 cities of India including – Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, and Ahmed Nagar.
Apart from the Google street view live, Google is also planning to introduce some additional features to Google Maps in India. One of these features will showcase the speed limit data provided by the traffic authorities on Google Maps. This specific feature will be first introduced in Bengaluru and Chandigarh, then to other parts of the county.
How to use Google Street View?
Foremost, the user has to click on the Google Maps app. After that, type the location name and click on the search button. Now, you will see an icon of Street View at the bottom of the screen. Once you click on it, you will have to choose a neighborhood. From there, the user can check out various shops, cafés, or any heritage sites around the city.
Conclusion
Google street view has become the talk of the town after so many years. It is an interesting addition to Google Maps and everyone must look forward to it. With the help of this feature, users can find things easily in their neighborhood. It will also positively impact the neighboring stores and shops in a specific area.
We hope this blog on Google street view will give you an insight into this new feature of Google Maps. If you have any queries or questions regarding this topic, please feel free to share them in the comments.