AI continues to supercharge a more visual, immersive & helpful Google Maps for India

Mumbai, Dec 21: AI has supercharged Google Maps for nearly a decade, enabling a comprehensive, up-to-date, and helpful map for India. Building on this, today Google introduced its new AI-powered India-first and India-focussed innovations underscoring its vision of unlocking the power of digital mapping for everyone.

Google has long since used AI to map millions of kilometers of urban and rural roads, and more than 300 million buildings. Google Maps surfaces over 50 million searches across multiple languages, and powers over 2.5 billion kms of directions each day. AI has also enabled the company to put over 30 million businesses and places on Google Maps across the nation, helping people make everyday decisions with access to useful information such as business hours, photos, and reviews. Google Search and Google Maps have enabled over 900 million connections a month between consumers and businesses across the country.

Miriam Karthika Daniel, VP - Google Maps Experiences, elaborated on the company’s priorities for the country, saying, “AI has accelerated our ability to build solutions that can scale to the diversity and complexity of a country like India. As we look to the future of Google Maps, we’re committed to building a map that helps people go from knowing about a place to truly experiencing it. We’re also focussed on catering to India’s diverse mobility needs, from sustainable journeys to public transport. We are delighted to partner with ONDC and Namma Yatri to enable a more digitized public transport experience accessible to all users. India is rapidly transforming, and at Google Maps, and we are excited by the opportunities ahead of us.”

Aiming to build a richer and more comprehensive map localized for the needs of Indian users, Google today launched an India-first innovation, Address Descriptors, for people to easily find locations based on landmarks. Google is also focussed on building a more visual and immersive map to transform the way users navigate and explore the world. A fundamental step in this journey was the launch of Street View last year with Genesys International and Tech Mahindra that’s now expanded to 3,000 cities and towns. The company announced two new visually immersive features – Lens in Maps and Live View Walking Navigation – that it’s bringing to India by combining Street View imagery from local partners along with advanced AI and AR technologies. As people become more conscious of their carbon footprint, the company announced the new fuel-efficient routing feature coming to India to help people make more sustainable choices across two-wheelers and four-wheelers. India and Indonesia will be the first countries in which Google is rolling out this feature for two-wheelers.

A large majority of people in India depend on public transport for their daily mobility needs. Over the years, Google has partnered with numerous local authorities towards this goal, enabling millions of users to find information about various modes of public transport including metros, trains, and buses in over 20 Indian cities. Today, to deliver on a shared vision of building a more digitized public transport experience and making it accessible to all users, Google announced partnerships with ONDC and Namma Yatri. These partnerships will focus on bringing metro schedules and bookings to users, and will launch by mid next year with Kochi metro on Google Maps powered by Namma Yatri, followed by other metros as they join the ONDC network. Google is also bringing Mumbai and Kolkata Local Trains to the Where Is My Train app, enabling access to dynamic information like train location, real-time status, platform changes and more.

T Koshy, MD and CEO at ONDC: "We are excited to collaborate with Google Maps towards revolutionizing public transport experiences in India. With this collaboration, we aim to not only enhance user convenience but also provide a platform for the growth of mobility startups nationwide. Together, our pilot initiative with Kochi Metro and Namma Yatri sets the stage for a more efficient and discoverable transportation landscape. Furthermore, as we strive for a future where various modes of transport seamlessly connect, our collaboration with Google Maps holds the promise of unlocking new levels of accessibility, affordability, and transformative possibilities."

Vimal Kumar, Founder and CEO of Juspay says, “Technology can drive up the adoption of public transport by making it seamless and super convenient. We believe Namma Yatri’s citizen/community-first approach, combined with deep technological innovation, can help transform this space. We are happy for this partnership with ONDC who plays a critical role in bringing the ecosystem players together, and with Google Maps whose ubiquity can take this innovation to all the citizens towards a positive impact.”