Google launches Street View in India after years of rejection

Google has relaunched Street View, the feature of Google Maps that allows users to explore an area through 360-degree panoramic images at street level, in India, more than a decade after the service was first rolled out in the South Asian market and about six years after the feature was banned in the country for security reasons.

The company, which first launched Street View in the country in 2011, said it has partnered with local giants Genesys and Tech Mahindra to relaunch the service, which is now available in 10 Indian cities . The company plans to roll out the service to 50 Indian cities by the end of the year.

This is the first time, Google executives said at a press briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday, that Google has partnered with third-party companies for Street View. Unveiled 15 years ago, Street View is available in more than 100 countries and territories and has amassed more than 220 billion Street View images, the company announced earlier this year.

"Starting today, Street View will be available on Google Maps with a new India Imagery Intensity that covers 150,000 kilometers (93,205 miles) of roads that have actually been ingested into Google Maps" , said Miriam Karthika Daniel, Vice President - Maps Experiences. at Google, during the event. "So I'm really excited to see how people are going to start using Street View and in India and see how we've suddenly changed their daily lives."

Miriam Karthika Daniel, Vice President – ​​Maps Experiences at Google, discussing the relaunch of Street View in India at an i event in New Delhi. Image credits: Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch

India rejected Google's plans to collect imagery for its Street View service in 2016 over security concerns at sensitive defense installations. The government feared the technology could help terrorism, local media said at the time. India has long feared that its military installations and high-security areas are vulnerable to attack and, like many other countries, has insisted on controlling how the country's international borders and disputed borders are depicted.

"We remain committed to working with local organizations and government as we strive to provide even more useful features and information on Maps. We will continue to do so responsibly, enabling accurate, authentic information. and trustworthy. We look forward to extending our technology and expertise to the local ecosystem,” said Miriam.

Karthika Daniel, who joined Google last year from Amazon, said the company is opening up access to the Street View API to local developers. "This will allow them to integrate mapping experiences and all of their products and services in the future," she said.

Alongside the launch of Street View, Google announced many other additions to Google Maps in India, the Android maker's largest user market. One of these features will display speed limit data shared by traffic authorities on the Maps app. The company said the feature, which will be rolled out first in Bangalore, aims to promote safe driving.

"We are proud to partner with Google to use technology to reduce traffic congestion and improve road safety for the people of Bangalore. We are the first city in India to have launched a pilot project with Google to optimize the configuration of traffic lights in Bangalore to reduce signal waiting time for commuters According to data provided by Google, Google's revised plan resulted in an average reduction in waiting time of 20% per driver crossing the pilot intersection during the day,” Ravikanthe Gowda, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in Bengaluru, said in a statement.

Google said it has also partnered with the Traffic Authority...