BENGALURU: From guiding people on which bus to take to work and real-time traffic to empowering tourists to become local guides, Google Maps India strives to show the way and direct citizens to their destinations. In an interview with TOI, Sanket Gupta, programme manager of Google Maps India, says today India is among the top five countries using the offline map feature and that the next project is to map public toilets. Excerpts from an interview:
With data usage increasing in India, how is Google Maps enabling citizens to save data and make optimal use of the maps through the app?
In India, data is precious and this is where we thought of helping citizens save it on their phone to get best help while driving, commuting or on a road trip. Internet access is low in rural areas, forests and mountains, where travellers find it difficult to navigate online maps. Thus the offline mode evolved. And in no time, India be came the top five users of the offline mode.
Using the mobile app, citizens can download the area between two travel points on the map. Once they step out, the map guides them through the shortest and best possible routes even if internet connection is weak or not available. In August, we launched another feature using which a person can download the area map and go offline while travelling. They can also save the map in the phone’s memory card which won’t consume internal memory .
Indian cities now have multimodal public transport systems. How does Google Maps encourage one to take public transport and plan daily commute?
Apart from helping with directions while driving and walking, Google Maps allows a person to plan a trip using public transport, whether it’s bus, Metro or train. However, it’s not a popular feature yet. As of now, we have fixed schedules for buses and Metro.
What about the strategic partnership with Ola and Uber?
Getting a cab at the doorstep through an app has become the way forward in urban commute. Our partnership with Ola and Uber is not new. They already have the licence to use Google Maps for both their drivers and commuters. There is an additional feature which helps a person see and compare the fares and know how far a cab is using Google Maps.
The ministry of urban development and Google Maps have tied up to identify toilets for tourists across India. From when will the feature be available?
We are working with the ministry to map locations of public toilets on Google Maps as part of Swachh Bharat initiative. However, we cannot comment on when the feature will be available.There are times when the maps fail to give
A clear idea of a flyover or an underpass or a place that’s not mapped. How do you intend to improve on this?
We are always looking to make the maps more comprehensive and accurate for users.We are open to feedback from citizens. You can send feedback in three ways — report a data problem, add a place yourself or send app feedback. Click on the top left menu and select the “send feedback” option. One of our aims is to make maps more accurate and relevant for our users.
