NEW DELHI, 27th July – 11 years after an initial effort was unsuccessful due to regulatory issues, Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google Maps officially debuted its panoramic Street View service in 10 Indian cities in collaboration with Tech Mahindra and Genesys.
The function uses images captured by traveling automobiles to provide 360-degree panoramas of cities worldwide and has come under legal and privacy scrutiny in several nations.
The debut in India comes after the government rejected Google’s permission at least twice in the previous ten years due to security issues.
The company’s management said on Wednesday that the new geospatial policy from India last year, which permits international map providers to deliver panoramic images by licensing the data from local partners, allowed them to fulfill the legal criteria.
Google stated that Tech Mahindra and Genesys were solely responsible for data collecting and that the service will be made accessible in more than 50 Indian cities by the end of this year.
In order to address privacy concerns, Street View images will block out people’s faces and registration plates, according to Miriam Daniel, Vice President of Google Maps Experiences.
The statement on Wednesday was timed to the debut of a related feature by MapmyIndia (CEIF.NS), the local map provider for Apple Inc. (AAPL.O). According to the business, its Mappls RealView is operational in hundreds of cities.
Google also disclosed a collaboration with the Central Pollution Control Board of India to deliver air quality data via maps.