Whoa! Google Maps is All Set to Launch Street View in India

For all those of you who rely on Google Maps for their every move (literally), life just got a lot sunnier. Finally, the tech giant is bringing its Street View feature to Google Maps in India and this is a game changer. Allow us to tell you why that is. With street view, you can view landmarks and even experience restaurants or any other place virtually. This feature will also show speed limits, road closers, and traffic lights with the help of local traffic authorities.

Google has announced the Street View feature in partnership with Genesys International (which is an advanced mapping solutions company) and Tech Mahindra (which is a leading IT company). The feature is being launched on a pilot basis only in Bengaluru. Shortly after that, it will be available to people in Kolkata and Hyderabad. Once it’s launched in these three cities, this brilliant feature will be available in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, Ahmednagar, and Amritsar.

In a blog post, Google said, “Our teams at Google have been using existing traffic patterns and the power of machine learning to help cities better optimize their traffic light timings, helping them reduce wait time at intersections, road congestion, and carbon emissions as well.” Further adding, “We have partnered with Bengaluru traffic police to help them optimize their traffic light timings – and we have some exciting initial results. The pilot resulted in almost a 20% reduction in congestion across all the intersections. We will be scaling this to all of Bengaluru, and extending this pilot to Kolkata and Hyderabad as well in the coming months.”

With the 360-degree angle on the Street View feature, you can discover local cafes, watering holes, and ever check out entire neighbourhoods. In a statement Google said, "Street View will help people navigate and explore new corners of the country and the world in a more visual and accurate way, enabling them to fully experience what it’s like to be in these places, right from their phone or computer.”

Think of how handy this feature will be when you’re on your next vacation and are wandering aimlessly around trying to find your way back to the hotel. Google has promised to roll out this feature to more than 50 cities by the end of 2022. We can’t wait!