Maps going mobile with MapmyIndia

It’s been silent for a while here. You could say we have been busy. After plenty of updates and launches on online maps, mobile devices caught our attention. We noticed increasing traffic on Maps and Explore from mobile handsets. So we went ahead and made maps accessible on mobile through –

1. 1. Mobile Website – MapmyIndia Maps, Driving Directions and Local Search are now available on your GPRS-enabled mobile phones at m.mapmyindia.com. This is an HTML5 application that supports most modern handsets. m.mapmyindia.com provides the same search functionality as available on https://maps.mapmyindia.com online, in a highly customized and fast interface for mobile phones.

      This mobile web app uses the location information from a user’s smartphone to enable contextual nearby searching.Users can search for full step-by-step landmark based driving directions, maps of places, businesses and addresses with phone numbers, and find the route from their current location to these places. Every search has two views – list view which has details of the place and a map view where one can see an interactive map of the location that user can zoom in or out as well as pan to find other places nearby right on the map.

      All searches are assisted, in the sense that the application suggests you places as you type in names, to ensure you always find what you are looking for. m.mapmyindia.com is just a one page application with all functionality available in collapsible rows: a user is never navigated away from search and map. This ensures a user never waits for pages to load, given the rather dismal GPRS speeds in the country.

      m.mapmyindia.com is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian (Nokia), Windows Phone 7 and for every other phone browser that supports HTML5. Since it is a web-based application fundamentally, users will always get the most updated MapmyIndia Maps every time they use m.mapmyindia.com as there is no download required of any kind. So it is truly your search and navigation assistant on the go!

1. Maps on Android– We also launched a major update to our free app for Android phones today. This update brings with it a major overhaul to the app design along with a completely re-engineered backend. Broad features hereunder –
   • The searches available in MapmyIndia have been highlighted on the landing screen. The first page is no more a map (which was an annoyance to most users in the past)
   • Available searches – current location, Map Search, Driving Directions, Local Search and Deals
   • All search boxes have auto-suggest enabled, taking care of the typing trouble on touch phones
   • A drop down menu in the top bar using which users can switch between searches
   • Users can also save searches and places as their favourites. These are stored in the app and will be later tied to a user account which will make these favourites accessible across all devices/platforms
   • Users see incremental direction steps on the map in a seamless interface along with their current location updated on the map every two minutes. This gives the app a navigational touch
   • Users can share places and searches on Facebook or via email
   • We have also enabled in-app feedback

     Get the update from Google Play.

So go mobile with MapmyIndia and travel confidently!

Nitin Sagar
Senior Product Manager