Google, on Wednesday, added to its indoor maps directory 75 popular locations in India, including popular shopping malls across 22 cities. Also included were popular museums – National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi and the Salar Jung in Hyderabad.
In Chennai, the following shopping malls will feature on the Google Maps app on both mobiles and desktops as indoor maps along with their detailed floor plans: Ampa Sky Walk, Bergamo, Forum Vijaya Mall, Ramee Mall and Spectrum.
Apart from zooming in on the floor plans, in some select malls, users can also experience a walk-through navigation where a blue dot will represent the user and her position within the indoor complex. The floor plan will specify the exact location of a store inside a mall. Users will be able to find out, for instance, on which floor at the Ampa Sky Walk mall the food court is located by just zooming into the map.
Suren Ruhela, director and product manager, India Google Maps, said business owners interested in adding their floor plans to the Google Indoor Maps database can do so by logging on to http://maps.google.com/floorplans and adding their venue for free. “We have created a more immersive experience. The 75 venues is just a start,” he said.
Google Maps is one of the biggest mapping applications in the world with over a billion users worldwide logging in to check details across the globe. A majority of the users log in to the application through mobile devices.