A way when

Google map

cannot find

any...

By:

Dhawal Singhal

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Intro Google maps are very common for getting directions to a certain place. But, what if we don’t know the exact address of the place itself? Or worse, what if the address doesn’t show up in google map ?

In these situations we are bound to ask the shopkeepers or other people of the area for the directions, failing the prime objective of the maps or navigation system.

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Many times we come across situations where we don’t know the correct address or the official address which makes the searching on the maps almost impossible.

Or sometimes, there are more than one landmarks sharing the same name, making the searching even more confusing.

Only choice left in that case is asking the passersby, which is often quite inconvenient.

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An Actual Map

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This is a snapshot of a part of my hometown,

Chandpur-246725 (Dist. Bijnor, U.P., India). I

live in Shiv Lok Colony which is inexistent in

google maps.

Now, anyone knowing my address can

reach the town but finding the precise

location is not possible.

Have a look at the approximate location of

my house in the map in the next slide.

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The black dot shows the approximate location of my

house.

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It is now worth noticing that there is no

mention of roads or streets reaching to the

place. So the usage of the maps is limited in

this case and not very efficient.

I must indicate here that I am living at this

place for more than 9 years.

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This problem is not limited to small colonies in

remote areas. Even some large companies

may suffer from their inexistence on google

maps.

I must share an example supporting my

claim, on the very next slide.

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Here, I am discussing the case of a world

renowned paper machine and machine

clothing supplier, Voith Paper Fabrics India

Ltd.

This is a unit of Voith Group of Companies.

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Share Prices on Google!

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Voith Paper Fabrics India Ltd. is located at

Faridabad, India. Its current stock rate is

shown if its name is searched on Google.

But when I tried to locate the same on

google maps, this company could not be

found.

A snapshot of the search is available on the

next slide.

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Why can’t it be found?

The reason why google maps is unable to find its location may be because the company originally was Porrits & Spencer (Asia) Limited, and Voith Group of Companies took over it and the company was renamed.

Please note that this change is not recent, it happened 7 years ago in 2007.

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On Google Maps, the search “Porrits &

Spencer (Asia) Limited” correctly shows the

company location in Faridabad, Haryana,

India.

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Possible Solution

One possible solution to this problem is having a

tool by which we can have a mini map of our

locality saved with us, which can be sent to the

person coming to meet.

In this scenario, the person can use the google

map services to reach well known landmark

and from there onwards, the local mini map

can be used to reach the final destination.

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Here, I present the map of my locality,

edited to highlight prominent locations

nearby.

See the next slide for the terrain view of the

map and the directions for my house.

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Terrain view

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Here, I have manually edited the terrain

view of the map indicating the directions

along with some prominent landmarks.

This image can be saved and forwarded to

the person who intends to visit my place.

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Concept

Even though the Google maps are quite

accurate and give precise directions for a

particular location, we generally face

problems when it comes to searching of

specific buildings that are not well known.

Hence, people specially having frequent

visitors can generate a local map in which

their current location would be marked

along with some prominent landmarks.

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A user can use the tool to get a local map

downloaded on his device.

The user can also edit it and add

personalized instructions etc. before sharing

it with the prospective visitors.

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Now having this system and these maps will

have several advantages few of which are

mentioned in the next slide.

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Advantages

Offline Maps: Significantly low battery

consumption and data usage.

Easy Sharing: It is feasible to keep and

even share the edited images of maps

even by the organizations, offices, hotels,

industries or individuals which can aid the

person to reach the respective place.

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Time Saving: There is no repeated saving

and downloading of maps is required; the

images of maps can be downloaded

once by the resident and can be used

repeatedly, until there is no change in the

user’s address.

Customization: Customization is possible

for the places that are not well

documented in the Google maps.

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About Me

Dhawal Singhal B.Tech. (IT) 3rd Year

Manipal Institute of Technology,

Manipal.

dhawal.singhal@outlook.com

Dhawal Singhal, December 2014

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