News Analysis India

Tag: Google maps

  • Google Maps Navigation Leads Hyderabad-Based Four Tourists Into Stream In Kerala |

    Kerala: Using Google Maps to navigate resulted in a tourist group from Hyderabad driving into a stream swollen with water near Kuruppanthara in this south Kerala district, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred late Friday night when the four-member group, including a woman, were going towards Alappuzha. 

    The road they were travelling on was covered by water overflowing from the stream due to heavy rains and since the tourists were unfamiliar with the area, they drove right into the water body while navigating using Google maps, police said. 

    All four managed to escape unharmed due to the efforts of a nearby police patrolling unit and local residents, but their vehicle was completely submerged under the water, an officer of Kaduthuruthy police station said. The vehicle -a Ford Endeavour – was later pulled out of the stream using a crane. (Also Read: CEO Elon Musk Accuses WhatsApp, Claims Meta App Breaches Private User Data Every Night)

    Thereafter, the man who was driving the vehicle told reporters that he and his friends were going to Alappuzha from Munnar and they took the route shown by Google Maps. “At around 2-3 pm, it started raining very heavily. 

    The road was waterlogged. I was going very slow at around 10 kms per hour. But, suddenly the front tyres went deep into the water and the vehicle lost control. “Then the rear tyres also went in and the vehicle started floating forward. We quickly pulled down the windows and jumped out. We somehow managed to safely reach the shore,” he said. 

    Meanwhile, residents of the area said such accidents happen there during the rainy season when the road gets submerged. This is not the first such Google map-related accident reported in Kerala. In October last year, two young doctors died in a car accident which occurred after they allegedly followed directions on Google Maps and fell into a river. (Also Read: WhatsApp To Soon Allow Users To Put AI-Generated Profile Photos Based On Interests, Personalities, Moods)

    Following the incident, the Kerala police had issued cautionary guidelines for using the technology during the monsoon season.

  • Google Maps Utilizes Generative AI For Uncovering New Places; Check Details Here |

    New Delhi: Google Maps is set to undergo a significant upgrade with the integration of generative AI aiming to enhance user experiences. Through this new feature, the tech giant plans to revolutionize how users discover places, receive recommendations, and interact with the app.

    The addition of large language models and personalized suggestions marks a notable shift in the capabilities of Google Maps offering a glimpse into the future of AI-driven navigation and exploration.

    According to a blog post from Google, Maps will utilize large language models (LLM) to examine over 250 million locations and input from more than 300 million Local Guides. This will enable the app to provide suggestions tailored to user preferences by considering details from nearby businesses, including photos, reviews, and ratings. (Also Read: Apple Gears Up For Foldable Future: Report Indicates Entry Into Foldable Device Market by 2027)

    Users can also pose additional questions, such as ‘How about lunch?’, to receive recommendations for places that align with their previous inquiries. Subsequently, they will have the option to include the suggested place in a list or share it with friends. (Also Read: Apple Declares Final MacBook Featuring Disc Drive As ‘Obsolete’)

    As mentioned by Tech giant, users can inquire with Maps about activities suitable for a rainy day. In response, the app will provide suggestions for indoor activities, such as comedy shows or movie theaters in the nearby area, along with reviews from individuals who have already rated those places.

    The initial functionality supported by generative AI will only be accessible to a small group of Local Guides located in the United States. However, Google has not provided details about when it will become available for individuals residing in other countries.

    Although the differences between the new search results and traditional queries are not clear yet, it’s likely that the company will use generative AI to provide conversational Bard-style responses instead of presenting a list of places or activities. While currently available to a limited audience, the potential for this innovative feature to expand globally hints at an exciting future for navigation technology. 

  • Spending Money On Trip? Here's How To Avoid Tolls On Google Maps

    Once set, Google Maps will remember your preferences, automatically steering you away from tolls and highways on future trips.

  • Railways to use Google Maps to allot test centres to candidates within 300 km of domicile

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: In a first, the Railways will now use Google Maps to link the location of candidates appearing for its exams to test centres within a 300-km radius in order to cut their travel time.

    For decades, candidates appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exams have complained about test centres being far away from their domicile, resulting in not only long-distance travel but also expenses on account of lodging and food which they have to be bear.

    “With this, we are linking the pin codes of each candidate to an exam centre within 300 km of their residences through Google Maps. Also, we are ensuring that the centres have easy access to different modes of transport like buses and trains. If this works, we will be able to solve one of the most frequent and perennial complaints of candidates,” a senior official said.

    The process will be rolled out in the Level 6 and Level 4 computer-based tests to be held on July 30.

    Around 60,000 candidates will be appearing for the test at approximately 90 centres for 7,026 posts.

    “As of now, we have been able to accommodate around 99 per cent of candidates who have been provided centres within a 300-km range, while 100 per cent of female candidates have been accommodated within 400 km,” the official said.

    Most of the candidates took to Twitter after the RRB released the exam city links for the last set of exams, raising concerns about far away centres allotted to them.

    A Twitter user from Kolkata said she had been assigned a centre in Karnataka, while a candidate in Bengaluru complained about being allotted a centre in Ranchi, which is about 1,900 km away.

    Another candidate said her centre was 900 km from her hometown.

    The officials said candidates would get centres within the range, but it could be in a neighbouring state with good connectivity.

    However, in north-eastern states, the Railways is finding it difficult to accommodate candidates within the 300-km range as there are only a few test centres, they said.

    NEW DELHI: In a first, the Railways will now use Google Maps to link the location of candidates appearing for its exams to test centres within a 300-km radius in order to cut their travel time.

    For decades, candidates appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exams have complained about test centres being far away from their domicile, resulting in not only long-distance travel but also expenses on account of lodging and food which they have to be bear.

    “With this, we are linking the pin codes of each candidate to an exam centre within 300 km of their residences through Google Maps. Also, we are ensuring that the centres have easy access to different modes of transport like buses and trains. If this works, we will be able to solve one of the most frequent and perennial complaints of candidates,” a senior official said.

    The process will be rolled out in the Level 6 and Level 4 computer-based tests to be held on July 30.

    Around 60,000 candidates will be appearing for the test at approximately 90 centres for 7,026 posts.

    “As of now, we have been able to accommodate around 99 per cent of candidates who have been provided centres within a 300-km range, while 100 per cent of female candidates have been accommodated within 400 km,” the official said.

    Most of the candidates took to Twitter after the RRB released the exam city links for the last set of exams, raising concerns about far away centres allotted to them.

    A Twitter user from Kolkata said she had been assigned a centre in Karnataka, while a candidate in Bengaluru complained about being allotted a centre in Ranchi, which is about 1,900 km away.

    Another candidate said her centre was 900 km from her hometown.

    The officials said candidates would get centres within the range, but it could be in a neighbouring state with good connectivity.

    However, in north-eastern states, the Railways is finding it difficult to accommodate candidates within the 300-km range as there are only a few test centres, they said.

  • Google Maps to roll out toll prices for Indian users

    By Online Desk

    Google is set to roll out toll prices on Maps that will help users make the choice between toll roads and regular roads.

    With this new update, users can now find the estimated toll price to their destination even before the trip starts with toll pricing information from local tolling authorities. 

    Toll prices will be rolling out on Android and iOS this month for nearly 2,000 toll roads in India, the US, Japan and Indonesia — with more countries coming soon, said the company on Wednesday.

    “Google Maps will estimate the total toll price to your destination based on factors like the cost of using a toll pass or other payment methods, the day of the week, and how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time the user will be crossing it,” it said in a press release.

    For those looking for an alternative route, Google Maps will continue to provide the option of a toll-free route, where available, alongside options with tolls.

    “A simple tap on the three dots at the top right corner of the directions in Google Maps will let users select the route options and ‘avoid tolls’, if they wish to avoid toll routes completely,” the company said.

    In addition, Google has also released new updates for iOS users to make Google Maps easier to use on an Apple Watch or iPhone.

    The new updates include a new pinned trip widget, direct navigation from the Apple Watch, and Google Maps integration into Siri and the shortcuts app.

    The new pinned trip widget will help people access trips they have pinned in their Go Tab right from the iOS home screen — making it even easier to get directions.

    In addition, Apple Watch users will soon be able to get directions on Google Maps directly from their Watch. Google Maps is also integrating directly into iOS Spotlight, Siri, and the Shortcuts app.

    (With inputs from agencies)

  • Drop a pin on Google Maps for CBI officer to know your location: Court to accused on bail

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Share your location with the CBI investigation officer by dropping a “pin on the Google Maps” on your phone within seven days of release on bail, a special court has directed an accused in the JEE (Main) manipulation case, making it possibly the first such order in CBI cases.

    The special court accepted the bail application of Ajinkya Narhari Patil, an employee at the Pune office of Affinity Education Pvt. Ltd.

    who allegedly lured aspiring candidates by promising to arrange their admission in engineering courses through the JEE (Main) for a fee.

    The CBI, which had busted the racket on September 2 this year, has alleged that the accused owners and executives of Affinity Education compromised the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) by solving question papers through remote access and sometimes by providing answer keys to aspirants who bought their illicit services.

    The central probe agency has alleged that the accused bribed the supervisors of some examination centres in the National Capital Region (NCR), roping them in the conspiracy to provide unfair means to the aspiring candidates to secure admission in reputed engineering institutions for huge payments.

    Patil was “knowingly” making tele-calls to the parents and aspiring candidates luring them to give huge money for admission in IITs and NITs by using unfair means in the JEE (Main), the CBI has alleged.

    Patil who was arrested on September 3 contested the allegations saying he was a “mere employee” of Affinity Education primarily involved in making tele-callls to students interested in taking admission in medical colleges in foreign countries.

    The court allowed the bail of Patil on a bond of Rs 50,000 with conditions that he would share his phone number with the investigating officer within seven days of his release on bail.

    Special Judge Harish Kumar also directed that his phone number shall “always remain open at all times dropping a pin on the Google Maps” to ensure that his location is available to the investigating officer.

    The CBI had arrested seven persons linked to Affinity Education, including its two directors Siddharth Krishna and Vishwambhar Mani Tripathi and four employees Ritik Singh, Anjum Dawoodani, Animesh Kumar Singh and Ajinkya Narhari Patil, the officials said.

    Another person Ranjit Singh Thakur was arrested from Jamshedpur, they said.

  • Now Google Maps gets a desi rival as ISRO, MapmyIndia join hands for web mapping services

    Express News Service
    BENGALURU: As voices around home-grown technology gain momentum, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has partnered with ‘MapmyIndia’, a desi startup, to develop a web mapping service like ‘Google Maps’.

    The development comes at a time when the Modi government has opened the space sector to private firms, paving the way for the ISRO to partner with deep tech startups. MapmyIndia CEO Rohan Verma said in a blogpost that the ISRO-MapMyIndia partnership will be India’s answer to Google Maps and will ease the “hidden cost burden for the user as well as depict true sovereignty of the country.” 

    This will be yet another path-breaking milestone in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey which will essentially reduce the dependence of Indians on foreign firms for navigation and geo-spatial services.

    “There are many reasons why Indians are better off with an indigenous solution for maps and geospatial services. MapmyIndia, being a responsible Indian company, ensures that its maps depict India’s borders as per Government of India, and hosts its maps in India,” Verma said.

    ISRO said in a statement that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CE Info Systems, the parent firm of MapMyIndia aimed to jointly identify and build holistic geospatial solutions. Rohan Verma said that the company doesn’t have an advertising-led business model, unlike Google which utilises the user locations and movement data to serve them targeted advertisements. He added that through the combined partnership with ISRO, MapmyIndia’s end-user maps, apps, and services will now integrate with ISRO’s huge catalogue of satellite imagery and earth observation data, and would be a much better, more detailed and comprehensive, as well as privacy-centric, hyper-local and indigenous mapping solution for Indians, compared to foreign map apps and solutions.

    “Users will be able to see in MapmyIndia’s maps and services, all of India from a bird’s eye point of view, and also benefit hugely from the various map-based analytics and insights about the weather, pollution, agricultural output, land-use changes, flood and landslide disasters etc,” Verma said.

  • Sea of tractors touches capital from two sides ahead of Friday’s talks between farmers, Centre 

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Equipped with Google maps and contact details of points-persons appointed to guide them, thousands of farmers in tractor-trolleys descended on the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways on the outskirts of the national capital on Thursday in a dress rehearsal of ‘tractor parade’ planned on Republic Day.

    At least 5,000 tractors with over 10,000 farmers took part in the rally on the arc-shaped Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (Eastern) and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (Western) expressways. The show of strength came a day before the government and the farmers’ unions sit for eighth round of talks.

    The rally was taken out from four different points — Singhu to Tikri border, Tikri to Kundli, Ghazipur to Palwal and Rewasan to Palwal.

    The farmers camping at Singhu and Tikri borders entered the expressway from Kundli and Sampla, respectively.

    Both the groups met midway before returning to their bases. The farmers protesting at Ghazipur border met the group from Rewasan in Palwal, Haryana, and returned to their camps. 

    Interestingly, the rally on KMP Expressway was joined by a large number of farmers and youngsters from Haryana. Both at Singhu and Tikri borders, it’s the farmers from Punjab who are leading the stir.

    Farmers and youngsters were also seen in cars and jeeps. At the KMP crossing, the volunteers continuously made announcements and alerted the farmers to drive in a lane.

    “The rally was peaceful and was even more successful than expected. We had expected only 500-600 tractors from Haryana but 2,500 came. The farmers from near Delhi joined the rally,” said Paramjeet Singh Katyal of Samyukta Kisan Morcha. 

    the government and the farmer unions stuck to their respective positions on Thursday — the agitating farmers took out tractor rallies to press their demand for rollback of new agri laws and the Centre asserted it is ready to consider any proposal other than their repeal.

    As both sides looked for a resolution to the over one-month-long deadlock, rumours about some states being allowed to opt out of the central laws started doing the rounds, but the agitating unions said they had not received any such proposal from the government.

    Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar too answered in the negative when he was asked by reporters if there was any proposal to give state governments the freedom to implement the new laws.

    Tomar, along with Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, has been leading the government’s negotiations with 40 protesting farmer union leaders.

    The latest round of talks to be held at Vigyan Bhavan at 2PM on Friday is crucial as the previous meeting on January 4 remained inconclusive with both sides sticking to their positions.

    There was some breakthrough in the sixth round of talks on December 30 when the government conceded to two demands of the agitating farmers pertaining to power subsidy and stubble burning.

    The previous rounds of talks had failed to make any headway.

    Farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka, a senior member of the Samkyukt Kisan Morch, said that unions have not received any proposal for allowing some states to opt out and asserted that they will reject the same if it is sent to them.

    “I want to make it clear that Samkyukt Kisan Morcha has not received any proposal on allowing states to opt out of the three farm laws.

    We will not accept anything less than the repeal of three agriculture laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for our crops,” Kakka told PTI.

    “If it is true (about any such proposal), it is a divide and rule strategy by the government,” the farmer leader also said.

    The Samkyukt Kisan Morch is an umbrella body of around 40 farmer unions protesting at several Delhi border points for the last 43 days against the new agri laws.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who is also a senior member of the Morcha, denied receiving any proposal from the government.

    “We have not got anything (any new proposal) from the government,” Ugrahan told PTI.

    During an interaction through Facebook, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, who is actively participating in the ongoing protest against the new farm laws, accused the government of “fuelling such rumours”.

    “It is being discussed in the media that the government has sent a proposal to farmer unions. We have not received any proposal from the government’s side,” Yadav said.

    Earlier in the day, renowned religious leader Baba Lakha met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, even as the latter denied giving any proposal to the former.

    Tomar said that the government is ready to consider any proposal other than repeal of three farm laws, the key demand of the protesting farmers.

    “I cannot say “I cannot say anything right now. In fact, it depends on what issues that will come up for discussion in the meeting,” Tomar told reporters when asked about the likely outcome of the January 8 meeting.

    Punjab BJP leaders Surjit Kumar Jyani and Harjit Singh Grewal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Thursday.

    After the meeting, Jyani told reporters that the farmer unions should not be adamant on their demand for repeal of the three farm laws.

    He also alleged that Left leaders have entered into the movement and do not want the matter to be resolved.

    Grewal asserted that the government is ready for everything that is in farmers’ interest.

    (With PTI Inputs)