Landmarks in India Directions

Sometimes map developers using the Google Maps API come up with a feature so clever that Google themselves end up implementing something very similar on Google Maps itself. That curse has now fallen on RouteGuru.

In India many streets don't have names, which of course can make giving driving directions pretty confusing. To overcome this problem RouteGuru devised a solution which they called 'landmark based' directions. A typical route in RouteGuru will say something like "take the left after restaurant X, pass by theatre Y on the right..etc.".



Guess what today Google have launched a 'landmark' system for driving directions on Google Maps in India. Google are using a new algorithm to determine which landmarks are most useful for navigation, based on importance and closeness to the turns that you need to make. They then include these landmarks in driving directions.

This new development will greatly improve driving directions for Indian users of Google Maps. It probably won't have such a positive impact on RouteGuru's traffic.

However, in Google's defence, the use of landmarks when giving directions in India is very common.

Via: Google India Blog

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