After failing to bring the 'street view' experience to India at least twice in the past decade due to following security concerns raised by government agencies over a collection of data. Google on Wednesday announced the launch of its popular ‘Street View’ feature in India.
Google has partnered with two firms in India – mapping solutions provider Genesys International and Tech Mahindra.
As per the National Geospatial Policy, 2021, local companies can collect such data and foreign firms can license the data from Indian entities to serve their customers in the country.
Street View will be available on Google Maps with fresh imagery licensed from local partners covering over 1,50,000 km across ten cities in India, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, Ahmednagar, and Amritsar.
“The new geospatial policy allows local entities to do the data collection at a certain level of fidelity. So our partners here, configure the cameras, and they go and do the data collection. They own the data that they collect, but then they license it to entities like Google, so we can actually integrate it and offer services like Google Maps,” Miriam Karthika Daniel, VP - of Google Maps Experiences, told reporters.
“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,” the company said.
To launch Street View, users need to open Google Maps, zoom into a road in any of the target cities, and tap the area they want to view.