Voice Navigation And Live Traffic Updates Finally Come To Google Maps In India

Trust me, I have been waiting for Google maps to get navigation and live traffic updates for a long time! I simply could not understand why Google couldn’t this sooner because I had seen instances and stories of people using it in the US and I thought that this was the best thing ever. The wait is over finally as Google has announced that Google Maps will now support navigation in India along with live traffic updates. Nokia also has a similar service in India.

The new features have debuted on Google Map’s Android app as well as the desktop interface. For those of you who are not aware of this, Google Maps uses GPS and the Internet to pinpoint your position relative to the places that have been marked on the map, say a popular mall. Previously, Google Maps only helped you plot out the path when you fed in the start point and destination. Now with this new feature, you can get turn-by-turn voice instructions while you are driving, biking or walking.  You can now also interact with the Google Maps Android app by using the voice features to specify places and locations.

The Live traffic feature is also now available for all the major road in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. Users can access the traffic info by activating a ‘traffic’ layer which the superimposes the traffic data onto the map. This feature is available on the desktop version as well as the mobile one. The desktop version will also give you a ‘typical’ traffic conditions at certain times in the day.

Traffic density is denoted by color as evidenced in the images.

Red  - Heavy Congestion

Yellow  - Minor Slow-downs

Green – Smooth sailing.

The smart thing about these live traffic updates is that now while you use the navigation feature, the route that Google Maps decides will take into account these traffic conditions and automatically calculate a optimum route for you along with an estimate of the time you will take to reach your destination.

Mr. Darren Baker, Product Manager for Google Maps spoke about the new features.

“Our goal in developing Google Maps is to provide users with the most comprehensive and accurate online maps in every country, and to share the features and benefits of Google Maps as widely as we can.”  Highlighting the significance of today’s announcements for the Indian market, he added: “We’re extremely excited to bring Google Maps Navigation and live traffic information to Google Maps users in one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing markets for online maps, and we’re confident that these features will help Indian users find their way around town with greater ease and convenience than ever before.”

With this Google might have just killed all the existing standalone GPS navigation services in the country. It is much simpler to have a capable phone which can do a variety of thing. You could just hook up your Android smartphone to a speaker port in your car and you will be guided without having to look at it. I have not test driven this feature yet, but given the positive reports generated by Google Navigation service abroad, we can safely assume that the Indian navigation feature will be superb. Don’t take my word for it. Give it a go and let us know what you think.

Desktop Version | Google Maps

App Download | Google Maps For Android

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