Perspectives

Considering most of my posts are related to GIS, internet mapping and local anyway, Why not talk about a new entrant in the Indian internet mapping space? Called SadakMap

Sadak Map has “Mark your place” , and then another “ask a question/post a message with a location relevance”. I guess it really is about a discussion forum with location specific topics. Mark a point? Well, I can do that on G Maps.

Yahoo India Maps has just released driving directions for destinations inside of India. Ofcourse, locations in NA and EU work as well. There are a lot of easter eggs hiding all over. Read about it at ycoolthing. Go find your favorite directions here.

Go Anywhere!

One of the things cool about satellite imagery is the feel that it gives you of the surface of earth. The ups and downs, rugged terrains, deep blue oceans…satellite imagery have been wonderful in giving you a perspective of earth that only astronauts working in space stations enjoyed. A view of earth sitting on earth was un-imaginable a few years ago.

Now what if you could get the same feel on a political map? The map that was not really photographed from a satellite. Well, that is what Yahoo India maps have tried to capture. Ever wondered how a map of kargil would look embedded with the great himalayas ? Or what about “Bandipur and mudumalai? A lot of geometry and look and feel fixes have gone in too.. So, Did you know that connaught place, new delhi runs anti-clockwise? Or what about the loop overpass that they have been building for ever at airport road, bangalore

Update: The links to connaught place and airport road were incorrect. Just fixed them.

Enjoy. Be sure to tell us how you like it.

Have you guys seen Microsoft research’s Mapcruncher? There are multiple versions of this software that can do multiple things, but the one that caught my eye was this version here that can basically make maps out of the images that you may have. The idea is, you have a map to scale. But that is all you have! You can then crunch this map on to the existing satellite imagery that MS has and then using Mapcruncher.

Load up your map image, then mark a few points on this map with the help of global map that you know. Now, lock them both up and ask Mapcruncher to render the tiles for you. Map crucher then provides you an HTML web kit, that you can just copy over to your web server and then, yes, you are done. As simple as that. Your map is now pannable, zoomable etc. I would have also loved if they managed to go some kinda OCR so that the contents on your map are serachable too.. Too much to ask for, I guess.

Here is a small mashup of the map of India from Yahoo India maps mashed up with Live earth’s satellite maps.

As usual, something needs to suck ass with microsoft, so you need “.Net 3.0″ before you can get mapcruncher working. Download it from here.

This is probably a right time to sit down and write about how mapping services are going to change your life, especially if you are living in developing or going to develop countries. In a few years, hopefully, this post wont have much relevance. GIS, GPS and LBS would probably already be a part of your life. This post is an Indian outlook to it.

Like I mentioned before, Local seems to be the buzz word in Indian internet industry. People have saturated or will saturate entertainment needs of the indian internet/mobile user. Wallpapers, ringtones, call tunes etc are already the biggest revenue generators for many companies and telcos.

Now infotainment is the in thing. And Maps will be an integral part of this industry. We already know onyomo does maps. Next, there are folks like routeguru and tolmolbol. While Tolmolbol will probably source their maps from Google, Routeguru, which gets it’s local and GIS data from Eicher, will probably use Eicher for rendering their maps as well. Routeguru is a very interesting routing service in that they use landmarks along the way to give you routes. Now, that is how Indians are used to driving directions. Burrp is another neatly done local’s site, and maps+burrp will be even better. Ilaaka doesnt deserve to be in this list, but what the heck, they show you a map too..from wikimapia.

The folks next in line are property services, of the likes of indiaproperty, 99acres etc. It will be a wonderful addon and a great service to folks looking to rent/buy real estate.

Certain other holiday/travel based sites show you maps too. Check out holidayiq for instance. Cleartrip is almost there with their “small world” service. The map is just too important there to be missing.

What do you think? GIS are here to stay? Or is it still too early to talk about it?

The closest I have come to barcamps was when it was held at the Yahoo office last year in Bangalore. Even in that one, I was busy with something else that I could not really attend it. Although I am hearing mixed opinions on the effectiveness of Barcamps, and more specifically, the ones in India, I want to see it for myself.

Registered for a Talk in the Ajax collective. I will either be speaking about “Hacking with Maps” or “Mapping with hacks”. Really, there is a difference. Not sure if it is going to be on 28th ot 29th but for sure, it will be in IIMB.

Incase you are going to be there too..Let me know, I d love to meet up with you..

Remember CARTOSAT-2 launched early this year ? Well, it seems to be up, flying somewhere above us and even sending back images now. ISRO seems to have released images from this commercially usable satellite.
Image courtesy :ISRO

So, how do you like vidhana soudha and Chinnaswamy cricket stadium side by side? GISindia seems to think that the real exiciting thing is the cost factor. Apparently, these imagery can be twenty times cheaper to buy than the ones at say, Yahoo India maps, which is most likely from IKONOS.

Oh, talking of satellite imagery, did you know that Yahoo India maps has added new satellite imagery for a lot of places in India, very recently? For instance, check out the the lovely Golden temple, Amritsar or maybe the Ganga,Yamuna ( and arguably), saraswati confluence at Allahabad.

Ourcity recently went live with Yahoo India’s maps(YIM) a little while ago (3rd april, do be precise). You can view your city’s map, click, drag, zoom and all the other things you can do with YIM. You can also search for a location and a few essential services inside the map you are viewing.

So, what do you think?

From Dr.Dobb’s,

New York State’s Department of Transportation has integrated Google Maps with its system for reporting traffic conditions, giving travelers more up-to-date information. The department’s Condition Acquisition Reporting System Web product, known as Cars Web, reports information on roadwork, accidents, and closures

Interestingly, this traffic information tool’s url reads “carsgoogle” Looks like these folks have installed cameras all over the place and give you live (well, almost) pics from them. Quite cool and fairly handy. There are also other layers such as “road work” , “accidents” etc.

So, how long do you think it will be before Bangalore gets it’s own live camera for traffic ? 10 years? Well, You can watch it right now at sify’s bangalorelive. Enjoy Maadi!

It has been a wonderful few past months. Yahoo India maps is a very special product for me. Ever since I joined Yahoo!, in bangalore, I have been wanting to do something for India. I guess it is my way of giving it back to my country. Also, I always believed indians deserved more and better. And my time finally arrived with maps. The levels of passion and interest India maps generated inside of me were unprecedented. At times, I was myself surprised. Sure, I did have my few ups and downs on the way, but who doesnt?

Maps was completely new to me. Now, I understand that it is, to India. Over the period I was with maps, I have learnt up quite a bit about GIS in general, the other open source activities around GIS in India etc. It seems pretty obvious that a large portion of the cake remains uncut. GIS and mapping activities are few and far apart in India. Mostly in research labs of companies trying to come out with GPS devices and in a few graduate institutions. There are a few enthusiast groups. But nothing of the levels of understanding and appreciation that you would see in the US and elsewhere. To say it has been a wonderful learning experience is an understatement.

And as lack of icing on top of this cake, many people, including me, begin to wonder if India really needs GIS and GPS. Havent we rolled down the windows of our cars and found many willing people to give directions? Havent we reached our places without any of these tech supplements? Is technology trying to do too much when we probably dont have tarred roads in most part of the country ? And when a sizable portion of the population dont possess a vehicle? Maybe there are a few corporate requirements for GIS. But, I am mostly a end consumer GIS person. I get convinced that was the case with most other inventions too. When the television came into existance, I am sure people were thinking “Why would I need it?, Am I not happy with the radio? “

In the days to come, according to my gut feel and from what I see around, Local and Yellowpages is going to be big in India. And if it is the case, Maps is going to be a lovely supplement. Maybe, maps will never take the podium in a long time. Here are some of the reasons:

1) we are a decade away from usable end-customer GIS data in India. My mom wouldnt give a damn if she cant find how to go to her bank from her home. For her, it will remain un-usable until we do that.

2) Indians perceive addresses very differently. We dont differentiate between a landmark and a point of interest and an address. I have found many people specifying “Opp. regal cinemas” even in postcards and envelopes.

3) Thanks to colonisation, we have every possible addressing schemes in the world here. I have been trying to write a regex to possibly parse and understand Indian addresses. I have hardly been successful.

4) As most places have local language names, which are proper vocabulary words in that language, it gets hard to understand what the user is trying to say when it gets to english. Road is called “marg” and “galli” and “pathai” and “veedhi” and “salai” and “vazhi”, to name a few. To top it, every user prefers a unique spelling to the place. Is it Ahmadabad or Ahmedabad? Thiruvallur is right, so is thiruvellore and tiruvallur!

5) There are zillions of people out there who use public commute. I dont think we are doing any kinda service to them if we are not able to tell them when the next train to his preferred destination will arrive. Or which bus to catch where.

6) Considering there are no road signs and boards telling you what road it is, does it make sense to give directions based on road names? Do all roads have names? Are all roads motorable? Do we know if it is a one way? And if it becomes one way, is there standardized way with which the city corporation disseminates that information? I dont know!

I can go on to write more of these things. But the point being, maps is and will remain a challenge. It is going to be an interesting problem to solve. And when we do solve it well, I am confident people will embrace it. For now, maps will have to be looked upon as a supplement to local and a thing to mashup with.

Back to Yahoo! India maps, we have lots of interesting ideas. And there is no time to do all of them. Very soon, you will be able to mashup with our maps. It will be our honour and pride. And there are a few surprise elements too. We are confident you d love it. I will write another post on what is cool about what we have done in a bit.

Do you have a few suggestions? Let us know. We would love to consider it and possibly implement it.