Google Adds Landmarks To Maps – Maps & Its Use Case In India?
Before I start this post I have an honest confession to make. Im pathetic when it comes to remembering roads and ways and no matter how many times I go to a certain location I usually forget the way I got there. So in short navigators and maps are made for people like me. But when I asked the opportunity for Maps at the recently held IAMAI Digital Summit I was surprised that a lot of the panelists which included Sriram Adookurie of Asklaila, J Murugavel of BharatMatrimony and R Sundar of Times business solutions underplayed the usage of maps for directions and the reason they gave was that in India landmarks are more important than road names.
If the panels views are taken to be the real issue then this announcement by Google couldn’t have come at a better time. Google announced on its India blog that they have launched landmarks for driving directions in Google maps. They had earlier launched driving directions in April this year. Google has achieved this via crowdsourcing of data from its users. Google has also also included navigational landmarks on your mobile phone with Google Maps for Mobile.
Google had invited and is inviting people to post more landmarks using their Google map maker product.
My take on Google Maps and Mapping & Its Use Case In India
I discovered the use of google maps when I was visiting my friend in Delhi. He stays in a small place near Kalkaji (Delhi) and to find his place everytime I travelled there was getting tougher each time (please keep in mind that I dont remember ways). So one day he said why don’t you use google maps on mobile and Ill mark my location on Google latitude and share the same with you. I can’t even begin to tell you how easy it was to find him. Now some people may say that its just easier to ask around but not all people know about all the places in a city especially with Indian cities having so many new locations cropping up each day.
Post this delhi experience Ive used google maps for mobile in Bangalore and in mumbai as well and Ive found it extremely useful to navigate through places.
As far as the use case of maps and mapping related products is concerned I see a huge opportunity in India. As cities get more complex and young folks like me are around who don’t remember ways mapping products have a sure shot future. I see the opportunity for location based classifieds and location based social networking as well in India. It becomes even more relevant when you consider that half of India roams around with a mobile phone in their hands which is nothing but a device through which your location can be tracked easily be it triangulation or GPS. I know most phones are not compatible just yet but then atleast the penetration exists.
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nice information.
thanks,
No opportunity bhaisaab!
1.Google map is GPRS based.Mobile numbers ~ 400M is itself inflated,GPRS active phones which is claimed to be 40-50M again another touted number.Actual base is max 4M.
2.Indians unlike westerners rely less on maps & more on asking people to get direction.Folksonomy or crowd sourcing helps..if one person cant give you right direction,asking 2/3 on the same can surely help you.
3.Citys are expanding – ok ! Are the maps updated so frequently? Its a cost & unless the map makers sees money there..they wont invest.Joke mat kar yaar !
4.A huge market in west is navigational devices within cars.When you have choice of spending Rs 5000 extra either on a navigational device or car accessory say a leather seat – I think you know the answer
..May be you consider yourself ‘geek’ and ashamed to ask for direction.
5.Mumbai mein drive kartey huein Google map use mat karna ..else you will be booked for using mobile phone during driving.
6.Next time you are in delhi..try to get a prepaid auto.
7.On “location based classifieds and location based social networking”..kya bolu ? he he
@bazee while many of your points are relevant I also think they are short sighted. I truly believe that India isn’t an homogeneous mass and there will be takers for products I mentioned in the post. Also as smartphones penetrate India all issues you point out will be non issues. Im not saying it will happen today but 2-3 years or 5 years depends on how optimistic you are.