Google’s Street view service

Google’s Street view service

News: Google Street View is launched in ten cities of India under the Guidelines of the National Geospatial Policy (NGP), 2021. NGP 2021 lets Indian companies collect map data and license it to others.

What is Google street view?
• Google Street View provides panoramic 360-degree views from designated roads throughout its coverage area.
• The 10 cities in which this service has been launched include; Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nasik, Hyderabad, Vadodara, Amritsar and Ahmednagar.
• As a part of the Street View Services, Google Maps will showcase speed limits data, that will be shared by traffic authorities. This facility will start from Bengaluru.
• In Bengaluru, Google will also partner with traffic police in a bid to deliver models that optimise traffic light timings in a better manner.

Issues with Street view
• Over the years a lot of privacy and other issues have been raised regarding Street View.
• A lot of these stem from people’s faces and other identifiable aspects, like car number plates and house numbers, being captured by the camera and being misused in different ways.
• There have also been security concerns about this kind of view being available, especially for sensitive locations.
• Along with India, Google has had issues with the local authorities in countries like Austria, Australia and Germany, though it has come back in most of these locations.

What is National Geospatial policy 2021?
• The National Geospatial Policy, 2021 liberalizes the geospatial sector and democratizes the datasets generated by use of public funds.
• The Policy seeks to empower citizens and enterprises to create, access and use geospatial data and information for addressing developmental needs of the country while also safeguarding its security interests.
• It provides for augmenting the geospatial ecosystem in the country, as well as globally, by encouraging geospatial knowledge generation, skill sets and expertise etc.