Fed up of using internet-based maps and ending up some place else? Technology fails its users at times but here’s is a sure-short way to find directions and reach your destination correctly.
Technology firm Vidteq has launched a free web-based service (www.vidteq.com) that provides a video clip of any route between two destinations in the city.
The website streams video clips of routes in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.
“In the US, just carrying text directions on a map would help one reach the destination, but the same does not apply here: the reason being that most streets here do not carry street names and numbers. This is when we thought the best solution would be to provide a video clip of the complete route,” explains Vidteq.com founder T. Chandra Mohan Reddy, who is based in Bangalore.
Such video maps are already in use in Bangalore, he says in a telephonic chat.
“Once users watch a video, they will feel like they’ve already been on that route. We have taken permission from the traffic authorities for the initiative and have patents for the whole concept,” he said.
The company spent over a year in Hyderabad to collect video clips of various routes.
“We have tried our best to even upload interior routes. We used vehicles with cameras mounted on them. These vehicles travelled daily to capture raw videos of roads. The footage was processed, broken down into bits and finally tagged to corresponding road segments,” he explained.
How it works
The entire operation consists of a few simple steps: based on the requested route, individual video elements get picked and are then rendered to the user. The video plays the complete route from the requested source address to the destination. The website also has a digital map along with text directions.
“In the videos, we clearly show which road segment it belongs to. Users need not watch the complete video and can use the fast forward tab over the video player. It is like watching a movie,” Mr. Chandra Mohan Reddy explains.
