ISRO and MapmyIndia to build alternative to Google Maps.

MapmyIndia| ISRO |google maps

There isn’t a soul on earth today who has lived life going places without the assistance of Google Maps, unless he is in the far out-backs of Central Asia or Central Africa where in any case the only information you may need to reach places could be which side is east, west, north and south.

Google Maps are an indispensable part of everyday existence. An Ola or an Uber driver by now might be so used to it that he or she may find it difficult to navigate from home to the shortest distance which could be the next block! And not without reasons.

Google Maps shows us everything from direction and distance in real time to the situation on the road, situation across a locality, better alternative roads and avenues, services on the road like parking spots, restaurants, landmarks and so on. Yes, Google Maps provides an endless list of services besides simply guiding people.

Is that all to Google Maps’ awesome service? Or is there something else we don’t know or care to know? For a start, in the Indian context, Google is a company that is anything but Indian. Yes, it does business in India, has offices here, assists the government and has been the reason behind the sprouting of hundreds of novel apps and services. Despite all the apparent pluses, it remains a company with foreign holdings and foreign masters.

Given the way data is and shall be utilized and manipulated for the good of certain entities, individuals and bodies spread across the world, the decision to bring competition to the doorstep of the largest online digital mapping services brought by one of the world’s largest corporation, does seem a good idea and at the right time. In the Indian context, it’s more so given the volume of data (and by extension, its implication) at stake and how the same can be manipulated to bring gain to a select few, sometimes for reasons which may be anything but fair.

More significant than the fact that competition is coming in onto a field of immense importance, is the fact that it is being brought about by two of India’s pioneers in the field. ISRO and MapmyIndia. ISRO ideally doesn’t need an introduction in any part of the world. It’s calling card, the Mangalyan launch has outdone everyone including NASA in the ingenuity and originality of its thoughts and style of execution.

It’s next venture, the Chandrayaan though a technical failure, had all the markings of another great project with flawless execution. Besides these, ISRO is known to have placed in the right space orbits some of the world’s leading satellites not just of Indian origins but also of foreign countries. ISRO’s untiring efforts has made India a pioneer in space exploration and satellite launches which has guaranteed India its safety and security in no small measures.

If ISRO is India’s answer to NASA, MapmyIndia is that to Google and others like them who think big is beautiful. Founded three decades by in Delhi by Rakesh and Rashmi Verma, then called C E Info Systems, it started out providing services meant to enhance the logistics part of any trade. Some of its earliest clients include Coca-Cola and Cell-One.

The MapmyIndia portal provided free location-based services to enhance the efficiency of last-mile delivering of logistics companies. Integrated a decade back with ISRO’s satellite imagery, it has provided services of immense use to both individuals and enterprise within the Indian sub-continent to places as far apart as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The pandemic of 2020 saw MapmyIndia launch real-time mapping of containment zones and treatment centres that was freely accessibly to all, and is said to have trumped Google Maps due to the latter’s delays and slow response.

And today the two Indian Giants have come together to turn the tables on Google. And rightly so given that India isn’t a place that should be at the mercy of any one service provider, that too with foreign links. India needs to be Aatmanirbhar with its maps and direction-providers, be it for individuals, enterprise, businesses, government or the armed forces. This coming together shall provide just that, and at the right time when enterprise in India is poised for a giant leap that shall see it not just aspire to be a super-power but be one in every sense.