Google Street view launches in India

Google has relaunched Street View, the Google Maps feature that allows users in India more than a decade after it first rolled out the service in the South Asian market. Google has partnered with local companies Genesys and Tech Mahindra to relaunch the service, which is now live in 10 Indian cities and expects to roll out service to 50 other Indian cities by the end of the year.

Unveiled 15 years ago, Street View is live in over 100 countries and territories and has amassed over 220 billion Street View images. Follow SpotLife Asia for the latest news and updates.

“Starting today, Street View will be available on Google Maps with fresh imagery intensity in India that is covering 150,000 kilometers (93,205 miles) of roads that’s actually been ingested into Google Maps,” said Miriam Karthika Daniel, VP – Maps Experiences at Google

India rejected Google’s plans to collect images for its Street View service in 2016 over security concerns of sensitive defense installations. The government feared that the technology could aid terrorism, local media reports said at the time. India has long been concerned that its military installations and high-security areas are vulnerable to attack and, like many other nations, has insisted to control how the country’s international boundaries and disputed borders are represented.

Additionally, Google announced scores of other additions to Google Maps in India, the Android-maker’s largest market by users. One such feature will show speed limits data shared by the traffic authorities on the maps app. Also Read: SpotLife Asia – Business and Technology News.

Google said it has also partnered with traffic authorities and aggregators to help people across eight Indian cities — Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Gurgaon, and Agra — make improved travel decisions and avoid congestion zones with information on road closures and incidents.