Google Street View feature to make a come back in India, launches in 10 cities

After being denied permission for a full-scale launch in 2016, Google Maps' the Google Street View feature that allows users to navigate and view panoramic street-level images of cities, is finally returning to India.

The search giant announced at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday that it is bringing Street View to India in partnership with Genesys and Tech Mahindra.

Initially available in 10 Indian cities, the functionality with millions of 360-degree panoramic images will cover 150,000 km of roads. By the end of this year, Google aims to roll out the feature to 50 cities. Also, as part of this initiative, Tech Mahindra will deploy camera-equipped SUVs in busy areas. In 2016, the government rejected a proposal to introduce Google Street View in the country citing security concerns.

Alphabet's Google in partnership with Mahindra and Genesys has launched its Street View service in 10 cities in India. Street View functionality on Google Maps covers 150,000 km of roads in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, Ahmednagar and Amritsar, NDTV reported.

Data collection will be done by local partners, and Google has confirmed that the Street View API will be made available to local developers. India is the first country to enable Street View mainly through partners. It is being implemented based on the new National Geospatial Policy, which allows domestic companies to collect data and modern mapping technologies.

Street View can be accessed on Google Maps by zooming into a road in any target city and tapping on the area you want to see. It can showcase local cafes, cultural hotspots or local neighbourhoods. Surface temperature data can also be provided with the help of Google Earth Engine.

The previous generation Mahindra Scorpios will be deployed instead of Google's own Street View vehicles.

Google's data operations product manager Stafford Marquardt said the new Google Street View camera (unveiled at Google I/O) may come to India (if it is ready by that time) even if they don't use their own vehicles. "We would love to bring the immersive view to India as well, but we have not decided anything. Since it uses 3D data and aerial view, we will probably have to do similar collaborations to bring it to India" he added.

Google has announced a tie-up with local authorities to take road safety measures and reduce traffic congestion.

To promote safe driving, Google Maps will display speed limit data shared by traffic authorities, starting with Bengaluru and Chandigarh. To reduce wait time at intersections, road congestion and carbon emissions, Google is collaborating with the Bengaluru Traffic Police, to optimize traffic light timing. This will later expand to Kolkata and Hyderabad