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In line with its efforts to fix the rough edges around Google Maps and improve the user experience around navigation, technology giant Google has launched new tools to add and discover Indian addresses on Google Maps along with adding voice navigation in six additional Indian languages.Google has introduced Plus Codes, which are six character + City codes for locations. The codes can be generated, shared and searched by anyone by entering into the search field on Google or Google Maps. The company said in a statement that the Codes can be used for a wide variety of reasons including communicating the venue of a temporary event, guiding emergency services to afflicted locations, and providing an identifiable location for complicated addresses.
Suren Ruhela, director, Google Maps Next Billion Users said that the Codes which can possibly replace people keying in long addresses while shopping on ecommerce sites or ordering on food delivery sites and the company will explore such partnerships in the future. “It all depends on how people use it,” he told ET. Ruhela said that for now Google is engaged in discussions with the ministry of urban development on using the Plus Codes for locating toilets.
The company has also introduced ‘Add an Address’ – to enable users to address specific locations similar to how businesses add their locations. Google will make sure the address is searchable in due course after verification. It has also introduced smart address search to make unique Indian addresses searchable.
“At Google Maps, our objective has always been about organizing all location-related information, and making it more accessible and relevant for Indian users,” said Ruhela adding that in India it can be challenging to reach a given residential address the format can be unique across regions and localities.
The company has also added voice navigation in six additional Indian languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.
Krish Vitaldevara, Product Lead, Google Maps Next Billion Users said, “We are just getting started as we continue to build features and expand our partnerships to make the Google Maps experience more comprehensive, accurate, and reliable for our users”.
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