Rakesh Sharma (30), a Delhi-based software engineer, is planning a relocation to Bangalore in few months time. Being aware of the difficulties in finding a house in a new city, Sharma wants to have a fair idea of preferred residential localities and how they look before he moves to Bangalore. Thanks to Google?s recently launched feature of capturing street images for mapping in India, Sharma?s house-hunting task might become a lot more easier.
Keeping in mind the large tech savvy population in Bangalore, starting this month, the internet giant will drive a fleet of cars and trikes, a three-wheel pedi cab, capturing street images of locations across Bangalore, the first place in India to access StreetView services in Google Maps. The feature allows users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level images, which is available both on personal computers and Google Maps on mobile phones.
It is not just locating a particular area but you can nail down the exact location for your crucial meeting point, the nearest coffee joint, plan a night out at a pub, or find the best viewing spot for a marathon or parade. If you are moving house or relocating, you can save time by exploring properties and their surrounding area in advance and also looking up driving directions. The service helps you navigate in 360 degree panoramas.
?If you are house hunting in an area like Devanhalli in Bangalore, which is about an hour and a half drive from the main city, it might not be possible to visit at first. But, with the help of StreetView you can actually get the feel of the whole area and neighbourhood,? says Vinay Goel, product head, Google India.
Google, which earlier had privacy issues with other countries, will only feature photographs taken on public properties in India. ?It will not be real time and all our images will use blurred faces of people and licence plates. We are committed to respecting local laws and norms in each country we launch StreetView,? adds Goel, noting that it will be responsive to any request received from a user for the blurring of any images that features them.
Going forward, the internet major plans to cover the rest of the country offering similar services on Google Maps. ?Our target is to cover all of India, but we don?t know by when we can complete it,? says Goel. First launched in 2007, StreetView services is already available in more than 100 cities in 27 countries.
In 2004, when Google started its operations in India, it had on its hand a country with intensely local needs and very low internet awareness. Having recognised this, the company set about creating a pool of locally viable content and generating interest and awareness about the internet.
?We started very much on a blank slate,? says Goel. But, today Google?s engineering centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad work on both local and global products. With technological and revenue generating products like Google Finance and Map Maker born in its labs here, Google India is recognised as a global development hub.
In terms of the number of employees, Google India is the second largest country outside the US. Google India, with offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Mumbai has come to be a test bed for the emerging markets. Google is betting on customising its offerings for the local market to broaden its user base. ?Localisation isn?t just a question of getting the right language, content and features; it?s about building products locally, from the ground up,? says Google.