Google announces launch of Street View in India

If you spot a Google car with a camera on top in front of your house, do not be suspicious. For Google on Thursday announced the launch of Street View in India. Street View, which is very common in US, UK, Singapore and Australia, is basically an 360 degree imagery collection of various locations and takes Google Maps to a new level.  The feature is already available in 27 countries.

In India, Street View will be first launched in Bangalore and then taken to other cities and states. “Bangalore being the IT capital of India was the obvious choice to start with. The aim is to map India in totality which is a tough job considering two-third streets in India do not have names,” said Vinay Goel, country head, products, Google. 

Areas where driving a car is not possible, trike -- a three wheel pedi-cab  with a camera system mounted on top or a rickshaw to put it simply -- will be used to collect images. Google Street View will be gathering images from various areas starting with Nrityagram Dance Village.

The images once upload on the net will be useful for urban development planners, househunters and travellers. Users can check parking slots before arriving at a place, arrange meeting points. Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site.

Learning from its experience in US, where the concept came under controversy because of privacy issue, Google blurs human faces and license plates of vehicles to render them unidentifiable. In case there is a request from a user for additional blurring of images, the matter will be looked into by the company, said Goel.

The user can report the same by clicking on ‘report a problem’ option given on every Street View image. So, next time when you are struggling to find a shop in a locality, the answer will be just a click away.