Google Maps, PWD Engineers Booked for Bizarre Incident Killing Three

There have been several incidents where users have faced issues due to incorrect directions provided by Google Maps.

Most recently, three men died after their car plunged off an incomplete bridge while following directions on Google Maps.

In this tragic incident in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, three men lost their lives after their car plunged off an under-construction bridge while following directions on Google Maps. The bridge, which had been damaged by floods earlier this year, lacked safety barriers and warning signs. The car fell into the Ramganga River, resulting in the tragic deaths.

 

Image Source - Reddit

The police have booked four engineers from the Public Works Department (PWD) and an unnamed official from Google Maps in connection with the accident. The FIR names two assistant engineers and two junior engineers from the PWD, as well as "unknown persons". A Google spokesperson expressed condolences and confirmed that the company is cooperating with the investigation.

Some unidentified locals who allegedly damaged a protective wall at the site have also been charged.

The FIRs were registered under Section 304A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

This incident highlights the importance of accurate and up-to-date information on navigation systems, as well as the need for proper safety measures at construction sites.

Last year in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Commission (NTSC) reported that several road accidents occurred because drivers followed incorrect routes suggested by Google Maps.

In 2019, a woman was stranded in Death Valley, United States, after Google Maps directed her onto a remote, impassable road. She was rescued after spending several days in the desert.

There have been numerous reports of drivers ending up in dangerous or inappropriate locations due to outdated or incorrect information provided by Google Maps.

These incidents highlight the importance of verifying navigation directions, especially in unfamiliar or potentially hazardous areas. Google continuously works to improve the accuracy of its maps and relies on user feedback to update its data.

Google relies heavily on user feedback to correct and update map data. They encourage users to report errors directly through the app.

Google is said to be actively working to address issues related to incorrect or outdated information on Google Maps and improve user safety.

Google Maps now includes a "Safer Routing" or "Stay Safer" feature that takes into account road conditions, weather, and traffic when providing directions. This helps users avoid potentially dangerous routes.

Google Maps marks Kashmir's Outlines as 'Disputed' when Seen from Outside India

Google Maps has redrawn the world's borders which look different depending upon where the user is viewing them from, with the popular search engine showing Kashmir's outlines as a dotted line acknowledging "dispute" when it is seen from outside India, a leading American daily has reported.

According to the Washington Post, "the borders on Google's online maps display Kashmir as fully under Indian control. Elsewhere, users see the region's snaking outlines as a dotted line, acknowledging the dispute".

From Pakistan, Kashmir appears disputed while from India, it appears as a part of India, the Post report said, adding that "Google Maps changes disputed borders based on what country you search from".

Responding to the Post report, a company spokesperson said: "Google has a consistent and global policy to depict disputed regions and features fairly, showing claims made by the disputed or claiming nations on its global domain.

"This does not endorse or affirm the position taken by any side. Products that have been localised to the local domain, such as maps.google.co.in, depicts that country's position as per the mandate of the local laws".

"We're committed to providing our users with the richest, most up-to-date and accurate maps possible. We do border updates based on data from our providers as new or more accurate data becomes available from authoritative sources or geopolitical conditions change. As we did for the state of Telangana in 2014," the Google official told PTI.

According to the Post report, "From Argentina to the United Kingdom to Iran, the world's borders look different depending on where you're viewing them from. That's because Google — and other online mapmakers — simply change them".

Google's corporate mission is "to organise the world's information", but it also bends it to its will, the Post report said, adding that with some 80 per cent market share in mobile maps and over a billion users, Google Maps has an outsize impact on people's perception of the world.

Headquartered in California, the company's decision-making on maps is often shrouded in secrecy, even to some of those who work to shape its digital atlases every day, the Post report said.

"It is influenced not just by history and local laws, but also the shifting whims of diplomats, policymakers and its own executives," the report quoted as saying people familiar with the matter on the condition of anonymity.

Launched 15 years ago, Google Maps has become one of the most-used and recognizable products for the search engine giant, it added.

Top Featured by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Google to Expand Mix Mode Commute Option to Cities Across India

Internet giant Google is looking to expand mixed mode commute option to cities across India that displays combination of available public transport for commuting to a particular destination.

"The public transport tab on Google Maps for Android now informs users about a journey that combines auto-rickshaw and public transport. It indicates how much time it will take, and which station they should take an auto-rickshaw to/from. The feature is available for Delhi and Bangalore and we're looking to bring it to other cities across India," Google Maps vice president Jen Jen Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

He was speaking on the occasion of Google Map completing 15 years.

Fitzpatrick listed 14 features that Google has incorporated in the maps of eight were first started in India and six were inspired from India and implemented in other foreign markets.

Information about public toilets inspired from Swachh Bharat Mission, digital address called "Plus codes" for location sharing including mixed mode commute are some of the features for which Google Map got inspiration from India.

"Google Maps now lists over 57,000 public toilets in 2,300+ cities across India. The initiative was launched in 2016 as a pilot in three cities -- New Delhi, Bhopal, and Indore -- in collaboration with the Swachh Bharat Mission and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs," Fitzpatrick said.

Google Relaunched Its Product of 2009 and No One Noticed

Google on Thursday had announced a new real—time location sharing feature of Google Maps available for both Android and iOS users. Under this feature, users will be able to share their real-time location with anyone and the people they share with will be able to see the location on Android, iPhone, mobile web and desktop.

Not many know that in year 2009 when smartphones were still in their infancy, Google announced something called Latitude. But because of privacy concerns raised by many Google had to shut down Latitude, and it was discontinued on August 9, 2013.



Four years later after discontinuing Latitude, the very same feature is relaunched however the privacy concerns still persist at least in India [source].

This time however, with the relaunch, Google kept its focus on the benefits of sharing location - for example, allowing parents to keep track of their smartphone-toting children - not fear-mongering of how it could go wrong.



Notably, similar tracking feature is already available on other apps such as Glympse, founded by former Microsoft employees, has offered this function for years. Although it isn't as wide-ranging, Apple also offers a tracking option called "Find My Friends" on its iPhone, iPad and Watch.

In 2015, an Ahmedabad, India based filmmaker turned tech-entrepreneur Ritam Bhatnagar had incorporated a startup called wWhere, that aims to solve the daily problem of exchanging locations with people and businesses around. The startup and its app however didn't do well

Enterprise Collaboration Startup WorkApps Chat Ties in Google Maps

WorkApps, the Indian Enterprise Collaboration Startup that launched last year, has released an update for their Chat Product which is integrated with Google Maps APIs, and helps companies manage large and distributed teams. Most Enterprise Collaboration Products focus more on employees that work from offices, and not so much on the field teams. WorkApps has been successful in connecting teams across the board.

WorkApps which has already gained substantial traction with large Indian enterprises like HDFC Ltd, Edelweiss, Piramal Healthcare, UTI Mutual Funds, Future Group, HDFC Sales etc, had raised its first round of Investment from US based Angel Investor Sashi Reddi of Sri Capital in July last year. WorkApps endeavors to not only get employees, but also partners, clients, service providers of an organization onto a single collaboration platform, which can be accessed on Mobile as well as on the web.

Commenting on the same Mr. M.V.S Murthy, Co-Founder & COO WorkApps Inc said; “People were looking for a secure and efficient way to communicate with coworkers, clients and partners. By continually updating our service, we have been able to give companies exactly what they want. WorkApps will continue to develop products taking into consideration the wants and needs of the market.”

WorkApps understands that chat is about mobility and their new chat version allows one to do more than chat in a fluid and efficient manner while on the move. The current product update with Google Maps API, has 3 Major Features for Distributed Field Teams. First, the GPS Tracker helps know the exact location of a sales or service personnel, making it easier to pass customer leads and service requests, second Moving Maps where one can view all on-felid personnel on a live map. The real time distance between a Customer and any on-field resource is visible on this moving map, allowing the closest person to be connected to the Customer. The third major feature is Memo, which is a simple service using which a message can be broadcasted to a selected set of employees or the complete organization.

Apart from these the application can manage Automation of Travel Claims, which facilitates field personnel to manage travel tracking and subsequent claims, Employee Attendance, which records attendance with exact location with and a time stamp, Women Security, enables women employees to keep their families and friends informed of their location and travel routes, Adding Off Payroll Staff, like distributors, DSA’s, agents, channel partners, pickup & delivery boys, floor staff, technicians who do not have access to Emails ID or official communication channels using just their Mobile Numbers. People can be added in the same group or different groups can be made.

“We understand that technology is always on the move,” added Murthy. “For this reason, we never sit still when it comes to product development. In the months and years to come, we have plenty of updates to add, all of which will make for a better overall user experience.”

Detailed Product Features

GPS Tracker helps teams know the exact location of each other, making it easier to pass customer leads and service requests. The complete journey of a map of an employee can also be mapped using the GPS Tracker.

Moving Maps: This is a powerful enabler for the customer facing sales and service teams. One can view all them on-felid personnel on a live map. The real time distance between a Customer and an on-field resource is visible on a moving map. The nearest person can be connected to the Customer and collapse response times. In an era of product parity, this a customer experience that will be of immense value. Most CRM tools fall short of these unique real time features.

Memo: Memo is a simple service using which a message can be broadcasted to a selected set of employees or the complete organization. Timely Communication itself is a very critical piece for most organizations. Sending Product offers, schemes, important notes or even regular messages to large teams spread across the country can be done in seconds using Memo.

Automation of Travel Claims: Field teams, battle with multiple issues when it comes to processing travel claims. Employees never submit them on time, cross checking travel routes and distances is not possible, reason for travel does not get recorded in process and so on. The Trip Manager feature of WorkApps Chat enables an employee to record the complete distance travelled for a trip with just a Start and Stop feature. All the data is available digitally to share with seniors and finance team in simple reports and excel downloads.

Employee Attendance: With the WorkApps Chat Attendance Register, an employee can just click a button and the exact location with its time stamp is recorded on the Server. This is very useful for field teams and can save companies the cost of putting access card readers. Retail companies can also use this to record the time spent by employees in branches and shops, with a time in and time out mechanism.

Enhancing Women Employee Security: WorkApps Chat enables women employees to keep their families and friends informed of their location and travel routes. When travelling outstation, it becomes difficult to keep people back home updated of your whereabouts regularly. In case of emergencies also, it is very important to know the exact or last known location of a person. This feature of WorkApps Chat can help one know it accurately.

Off Payroll Staff: For many large scale organisations, there are more people off payroll who do not have access to Emails ID or official communication channels. Distributors, DSAs, Agents, Channel Partners, Pickup boys, Delivery Executives, Floor Staff, Technicians. WorkApps Chat enables organizations to add Off Payroll Staff using just their Mobile Numbers. People can be added in the same group or different groups can be made.

Voice-Guided Lane Guidance Now Available For 20 Indian Cities On Google Maps For Mobile

Today Google introduced a new lane guidance feature for Google Maps on Android and iOS in India. With the Google Maps app for iPhone/iPad and Android, users will now be able to see and hear voice-guided instructions signaling which lane they should stay in or move to while in Navigation mode.

Lane guidance within Google Maps for mobile will be available for major roads across 20 Indian cities: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Pune, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam. Drivers will also be able to receive lane guidance on major Indian expressways, including the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Starting today, drivers in India can enjoy the turn-by-turn, voice-guided instructions in English as well as Hindi. Hindi speakers can choose to set Hindi as their preferred language by selecting the Hindi option within the “Language and input” menu found in their phone’s Settings menu. In addition to the English and Hindi voice guidance, users can also opt into the English (India) language preference on their phones to hear the voice-guided instructions spoken back to you in English in the Indian accent.

Commenting on the launch, Suren Ruhela, Director Product and Program Management, Google said, "Our goal is to continue making Google Maps for mobile into a handy travel companion for your daily commutes and trips around India, and we hope the new lane guidance will help make road travels easier to navigate for English and Hindi speaker across the country."

Today's launch of lane guidance within Google Maps for mobile is the latest effort in series of initiatives to make Google Maps more useful for users in India. In July 2014, Google launched Google Maps in Hindi so that people could see Hindi names for cities, localities, important roads, as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and schools, on Google Maps.

Google to make Goa first 3D digitized mapped state in India

According to Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Goa will be one of the first state in India to become 3D digitized mapped presence online. However all is depend on approval of state government on Google's proposal.

R.S. Kamat, director general of the state's top trade body, said in a statement that at a meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday, Google India's managing director Rajan Anandan also proposed to sponsor 1,000 start-up business in the state.

"Anandan offered to undertake complete digitisation of the state so that entire Goa is on a 3D digital map and becomes totally tourist friendly. Goa would be the first state in the world to do this. Google's 3D technology can help Goan enterprises go online and get globally connected through the Google network," Kamat said.

He said Parrikar has promised to appoint a nodal officer to take up further discussions with Google.

Currently, in Asian countries Google offers 3D maps in Japan and Taiwan only and if all goes all planned Goa, India will make India 3rd country where 3D maps are available.

It all started in June 2006 when textured 3D building models were added into Google Earth. With high resolution 360 degree cameras, which are the size of soccer balls, have enabled capturing 20 petabytes of images of Street View cars, trolleys, tricycles, mounted on boats and trains. A fleet of planes working exclusively for Google would capture the 3D imaging.

However what technology does google incorporate in making Goa a complete 3D digitized mapped state in India and how much time will take to do so is still unknown.

Google Opens India-wide mapping contest - Mapathon 2013

Google initiated an India wide mapping contest - Mapathon 2013 for anybody who lives in India in order to create better and detailed maps for Indian geography using Google Map Maker. Mapathon 2013 will run from February 12 to March 25, 2013.

Google is inviting Google Maps users from all over the India by adding knowledge of their local neighborhoods through Google Map Maker by adding almost everything like restaurants, food points, tourist places, hospitals etc. Add new routes, shortcuts, one-ways and make driving a seamless experience for everyone.

Participants will even get cool prizes such as - Samsung Galaxy Note 800 Android Tablets, Samsung Galaxy S II, Flipkart gift coupons and Google Mapathon 2013 t-shirts and certificates as well.The top 1000 contestants by number of published edits will receive cool prizes.