The Outsider Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Google India has launched driving directions for users of Google Maps. Users can now navigate around locations using Google Maps on their desktops and mobile phones using landmarks like petrol stations, banks, schools, railway stations, bus stops, local businesses & traffic circles and signals. India is the first country globally to get this feature on Google Maps. Indians are more comfortable finding way on the streets using landmarks. Typically many roads in India are not marked with road signs and even if they are, the signs are not visible. In some cases people do not even know the road names. For instance, a friend asks you for directions to your house for a new year party, or to that nice picnic spot you recommended to celebrate a new year’s eve, you scribble some lines on a piece of paper or explain that they should take a turn from a petrol pump or a bus stop or a grocery shop! Google today enables this activity online and share with friends and family. In India, Google has collected good landmark data through user-created "Points of Interest" in Google Map Maker. Google’s new algorithm determines which of these landmarks are most useful for navigation, based on importance, and closeness to the turns that the user is making and other available signals. With this launch, Google will now combine landmark data, counted turns ("the 2nd right"), intersection names, and road names, and try to use whatever information is most relevant and useful. Google is providing two kinds of landmarks, to identify where users need to turn, and to provide confirmation that they're on the right track. Google also encourages users to help make directions even better for millions of users in India by enriching landmarks data via Google Map Maker. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/internet/Google-India-launches-driving-direction-on-Google-Maps/articleshow/5344400.cms Pretty cool, I must say! Maybe someone in India can use it and see how it works out.....but nothing can take the fun out of asking the next bhaisahab for the directions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kabira Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 oh cool. will check it out. I had lost my way to Airport recently but autorickshawallahs always help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desi Cartman Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I really needed it today when i went to janakpuri :(( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainK Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I really needed it today when i went to janakpuri :(( man... ur going all over :woot: daisy setting india on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire :amitdance: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desi Cartman Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 man... ur going all over :woot: daisy setting india on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire :amitdance: Laggi padi hai .... I iz done with India .. time to return home :isalute: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Laggi padi hai .... I iz done with India .. time to return home :isalute: saala assie :mad: I iz going home Monday and will try out Google panwalla there :yay: :isalute: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desi Cartman Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 saala assie :mad: I iz going home Monday and will try out Google panwalla there :yay: :isalute: Good luck mate ... May god bless you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Talking about directions - [snip...]...Now Mrs. Neo no longer forces Neo to get directions from scary strangers. Not because she suddenly realized how bitterly humiliating the experience is for Neo, but because she realized that almost no one in Bangalore has any clue on how to give directions. Most Bangaloreans seemingly make the assumption that you already know where you are going – because they start giving you directions on “how to get to 5th Main” with questions like “Do you know the small electronics shop on 5th Main ?” Neo is confused at so many levels – is it a shop selling small electronics or is it a small shop selling electronics ? And no, Neo has no clue about specific shops on 5th Main, since he has never been there – hence the need for directions. So now the newly cured Mrs. Neo waits patiently as Neo does complex mathematics in his head as he plans the best route from “15th cross 23rd main 1st block” to “3rd cross 8th main 3rd block” (yes, Bangalore street planners think in three dimensions.) http://neoindian.org/2009/02/26/the-secret-healing-powers-of-bangalore%E2%80%99s-traffic/ LAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboysfan Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Talking about directions - http://neoindian.org/2009/02/26/the-secret-healing-powers-of-bangalore%E2%80%99s-traffic/ LAL :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamy Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 ^ ya, that guy is a funny feck :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 google doing another great job .. Big G rocks as always :aha: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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