The Biggest Update to Online Maps and MapmyIndia Explore yet

Following up closely on the launch of Online Maps v3.1, we have released an update to both Maps and Explore today. This is an important web release partly because of some feature additions and primarily because of the tons of under-the-hood changes we have done to the platform. Read on for details on the components added/changed/updated in this release –

• House numbers and more details everywhere – We have added two new zoom levels (on the higher side) to the MapmyIndia Map in this release. And with that we have brought house numbers in 18 cities (as of now) – New Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Check it out right away – see the map of Kormangla, Bangalore and zoom in to the last level. You will see building numbers quite obtrusively on the map. It just got a whole lot more convenient to add your house on the map, share your location with friends and family with last-mile precise directions. Another addition to the map is building footprints for the cities of Delhi and Mumbai. Take the map of M Block Market in Greater Kailash 2 for example. Zoom in to the last level and you will see house numbers associated with buildings.

  

  Also now as you go zooming in deeper into the map you will see icons representing certain categories popping up at designated zoom levels. Makes for a prettier and richer map.

• More Useful Restaurant data – MapmyIndia Maps now has its restaurant information pumped up by Zomato.  The integration includes showing restaurant timings, cuisine, and cost of meal for two directly in your search and links to view the menu and photos on Zomato’s website (see Olive Bar and Kitchen in Delhi). Throw in the regular directions to these restaurants and this really is the only gastro search you now need to use!

  

• Details for Points of Interests – You can now see phone numbers and PIN codes whenever you search for a particular business on MapmyIndia Maps. For example PVR Saket in Delhi. We continue gathering more and more details for all the millions of Points of Interests we have in our database and we encourage users to give feedback on searches to improve the quality of data.
• Comprehensive Show on Map and Search Nearby feature – Finding Points of Interest around a location is a commonly used feature. We had limited results to ten on a given map view on searches like hotels around gateway of India. Now you see ten results on the map and in the list on the left pane, but you also see other search results represented as small dots. This gives you an idea of the depth of information available in a “spatial” context. The same logic applies to Search Nearby feature as well. Also we now show you up to thousand results around a location sorted by radial distance.
• Local Search on Explore – MapmyIndia Explore, the big directory of States, Cities, Attractions and other things in India now adds the local search dimension. Keeping the principle of making it easier for you to discover things, Local Search on MapmyIndia Explore has city guides (see Kochi, Kerala). Local Search has eleven broad categories (like Eat & Drink, Travel, Shopping, Entertainment, Utilities, Tourism etc.) for you to search from along with over hundred sub-categories. You will be surprised to find places you didn’t think existed.
• More options on local search results – Whenever you do a nearby search, like coffee near Andheri, Mumbai, you get a number of results. Each of those results in itself is a location and must be able to reproduce the usual behaviour associated with a location on MapmyIndia Maps. So now when you hover with your mouse on the results you find three (self-explanatory) options – directions, search nearby and share. With this the entire search on MapmyIndia Maps is streamlined and users can expect consistent functionality across the different types of searches they can do.

  

More exciting things happening on MapmyIndia Maps over the next few months including more data partnerships and interesting features. Stay tuned. And as always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

Nitin Sagar
Product Manager