Google Maps has today introduced a slew of new features for its Google Maps in India. The brand has introduced plus codes, a new way find addresses and addition of voice navigation in six new Indian languages.
Starting with Plus Codes, it basically represents a simple and consistent addressing system that works across India and globally. Plus Codes divides the geographical surface of the Earth into tiny ‘tiled areas’, attributing a unique code to each of them. This code simply comprises a ‘6-character + City’ format that can be generated, shared and searched by anyone.
To use a Plus Code, users need to simply enter it into the Search field on Google or Google Maps, mobile or desktop, which will instantly show a location. “Plus 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,” the company said in a statement. Google is also adding voice navigation in six additional Indian languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam. The company had launched navigation in Hindi three years ago.
Moving on, Google has introduced new ‘Add an Address’ option to Maps. Through this, users will be able to add new or missing addresses. Google will add the address after verification so that it becomes searchable. Moreover, users will also get Local Guides points for each valid submission. Google Maps also comes loaded with Smart Address Search.
“This is an innovative approach to providing the best estimate of the location of an address: when people aren’t aware of an exact address, they just don’t give up but try to refer other information such as a nearby landmark, business or a locality to get closer to the final destination. Smart Address Search helps doing exactly that: if Google Maps doesn’t understand the address precisely, it will try to use all the pieces of information in the address and provide options of landmarks and points of interest that the user can best identify with — exactly like a person would have,” the brand added.