How Google Maps fixed India's street name problem

[@phoebeyutbt]

Original story by Elizabeth Laraki. Check out her article here: elizlaraki.substack.com/p/google-maps-ux-the-india-conundrum.

[@RohanElBuchanan]

What you are doing with your channel is not gonna work in long term. I've seen channels make video mentioning specific country but audience gets bored after a few videos and stops watching. Also just explaining stuff from one article is kind of plagiarism.

[@amlanbiswas4526]

But you see the problem with this approach, don't you? Just for the example you showed, there was something like a 'Kirana Store' - something like a one stop shop for groceries and eveeyday items. Now you often notice that certain places on Maps are outdated - people need to manually review those. So unless the landmarks are prominent, this idea is good for very recent and correct data. You can't just use any place as landmarks. I hope Google would have solved this issue - in order to make the video in-depth, you should mention their learnings too.

[@sailaab]

🔥💙🤍🙇🏻👍🏼👌🏼🌹

[@pushpraj_16_09]

☕☕☕☕

[@mi1400]

No its called "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious"... they just solved the problem using obvious/logical way gave its a summarizing formatting template and done... now lets build a fantasy castle of enigma over it for PR and Media and a press release "...aww thanks.. actually we hire and have a lot of young Sheldon's to turn problem into magic solution ... just dont talk about our titanic touring vessel" ..... Steve Job also used these gimic "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious" ... thats why Bill Gates has more noble and elegant personality ... i was laughing at Steve's reverse engineering habit when i saw that ever aw so inspiringly glorious reasoning with a iPod miniaturizing team by dropping a prototype in aquarium showing bubbles mean still allowance of space removal... he reversed it from common sense that say smartphones had to install screen sperate and touch panel separate but later both were fused into one .. that FABs were not advanced or both were from different FABs but later mergers etc let the parts FUSE... so smartphones are slim cuz more disparate parts are fused together.. What Steve just did was deceiving/concealing by twisting the wordings of his thoughts to make other believe he is a genius ... whereas in first place it was just basic thought in Steve's mind like every other person.

[@anshulmalviya8096]

As an Indian who is terrible at directions and heavily relies on Google maps , I thank these 2 ladies for helping me drive back home .

[@DADDYG-Ryder]

"As an Indian "Lmao 😭 bro just stop using this phrase

[@6meow6-b2u]

​@@DADDYG-Ryderthis is valid in this context

[@RagingJaguar-r3l]

@@DADDYG-Ryder He would use right if he is an indian?? you want him to use the phrase ,"As a pakistani"?

[@GrindingRepublic]

@@DADDYG-Ryder This phrase is so cringe ngl. "As an Indian ...." No one cares duh

[@atanugayen3030]

​@@GrindingRepublic I agree the phrase is cringe, but in this case it is actually relevant because of the topic at hand. It's mostly cringe when used in random places.

[@irjake]

If you want to get next level of local directions, use landmarks that don't exist anymore: Turn Right where the hardware store used to be 😂

[@davewells1642]

i remember vividly, turn left where xx store billboard used to be.

[@johantaube3022]

We have an intersection called "the red barn". The red barn was torn down 40 years ago. But we still turn right at the red barn to get home 😅

[@axaa-uo3dl]

I am from Ghaziabad and there used to be a famous banquet hall called Diamond. It is not there anymore and it closed a few years back. but the T point road and the flyover near it is still called, "diamond mod" and "diamond flyover" till date

[@earendilm]

Everybody in the surrounding neighborhoods knows the local firestation and uses it as a landmark when giving directions. The local firestation was demolished 30 years ago and now it's a park in there. Funny thing, almost nobody knows where the CURRENT local firestation is.

[@nikhilPUD01]

closed bussines?

[@shrey._.77s]

I can say for an Indian, Google maps went from being some alien software to being the most used, extremely handy app today. My own parents who're tech migrants and usually find working with mobiles and PCs tedious are able to easily use google maps directions more than any other competitor. Saw this example on Google's videos on UX Research and was really surprised how they actually understood the nuances and how things worked here within a short period of time despite living in a completely different place, Thanks for making such videos once again! Really appreciate it :D

[@-r-9341]

Teach me how you did that attachment thing?? Like how to

[@gopaljee1467]

That's Monopoly

[@Youthuba]

Could you stop "as an Indian" crap? Alien software? Not it wasn't. Not everyone is bihari bro. It's fucking embarrassing everytime I read shit like this

[@omkaribhanukrishna]

Yes, until they started naming their own names

[@nansee8]

Even many area has cross road names in India. Many Street name Google not recognise. Even the suggestion given by locals name of the street Google maps not take it as authentic.

[@Nicoya]

As a Google engineer who works on Maps, I can confirm that 1:08 is exactly what our weekly stand-ups are like.

[@pakistangenzpd]

hahahah bruh another reason AI cant replace you guys

[@daladirn5119]

Work in a bank, it's the same. Also as always, shit on company time.

[@Squirt4757]

Why does the UI keep changing colors to be worse? I can’t even see the traffic areas anymore on a route until I select that route

[@Nicoya]

@@Squirt4757 I don't know, I don't work on that particular part. If you find it really difficult to use, make sure to file a feedback report.

[@mi1400]

and just like obvious standups at google your solution was also actually very obvious .and then wrapped into called "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious"... they just solved the problem using obvious/logical way gave its a summarizing formatting template and done... now lets build a fantasy castle of enigma over it for PR and Media and a press release "...aww thanks.. actually we hire and have a lot of young Sheldon's to turn problem into magic solution ... just dont talk about our titanic touring vessel" ..... Steve Job also used these gimic "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious" ... thats why Bill Gates has more noble and elegant personality ... i was laughing at Steve's reverse engineering habit when i saw that ever aw so inspiringly glorious reasoning with a iPod miniaturizing team by dropping a prototype in aquarium showing bubbles mean still allowance of space removal... he reversed it from common sense that say smartphones had to install screen sperate and touch panel separate but later both were fused into one .. that FABs were not advanced or both were from different FABs but later mergers etc let the parts FUSE... so smartphones are slim cuz more disparate parts are fused together.. What Steve just did was deceiving/concealing by twisting the wordings of his thoughts to make other believe he is a genius ... whereas in first place it was just basic thought in Steve's mind like every other person.

[@tej4629]

I've lived in my city the entire life and I still don't know the names of most streets. The research done by the Google team was spot-on. Also, kudos to Phoebe for not butchering pronounciations of Indian cities.

[@shockthetoast]

I've lived in my city in the USA my entire life and still know most things by landmarks. It's just more natural to me. I wish I could enable this here!

[@BlueSheep95]

Well, obviously we have street names in Germany, but most of the times they are written on a small metal plate which is covered by a tree or something. The ability to enable landmarks like supermarkets, barber shops or bakeries would help me a lot in a place which I'm not familiar to. Unlike most US cities we do not have a grid layout most of the time, which makes navigating a bit more complicated. Mannheim is the only city which uses it for real.

[@dhirajsaxena1971]

​@@BlueSheep95 is this same google maps feature for india used in Germany?

[@shrey._.77s]

@@BlueSheep95 how exactly does Google help you navigate if not with the help of landmarks? Is it just the street names for most cases?

[@nikhilreddy8550]

@@shockthetoast Quite honestly I never noticed those blue info thingies when I navigate to new places in India. The navigation itself tends to be self-sufficient. Only issue was the flyovers and I see they updated the "take flyover" hint whenever it is required. My city has many of them and this is such a relief.

[@hritikaggarwal2000]

pheobo, this is probably one of the best videos I've ever watched. 4:50 seconds, pure infotainment, direct to the point, absolutely love it, hope to see more videos like this.

[@cchrischriscris]

Love how you messed up her name

[@jasmeenmalhotra2225]

Yeah it was so good. Looking forward to more

[@ralanham76]

​@@cchrischriscris human touch, i was wondering if the comment was a bot. 😁

[@neeraja6477]

phoebe managed to not butcher our city names, I think we can also try to not mess up her name. :)

[@DivjotSingh]

I'm an Indian and I keep learning names of streets I've gone through all my life from Google maps lol. We really just rely on landmarks and general direction, especially when roads and neighbourhoods change quite rapidly.

[@agme8045]

How do deliveries work?

[@DivjotSingh]

@agme8045 most if not all delivery executives just use the live app tracking. I think only auto rickshaws and some cab drivers have a mental map of locations but largely the entire cognitive load is shifted to Google maps by most.

[@hwfq34fajw9foiffawdiufhuaiwfhw]

@@agme8045 Back in the day we'd say ", Opposite , near , " the delivery boys usually knew their way around the city

[@azzam687]

@@agme8045 in the same way they would tell the major landmark and would find a small shop which would indicate their lane and some random colour house aand bang on it hits 95% time correctly

[@NJ-wb1cz]

​@@azzam687 doesn't all of this change all the time?... And how would you enter your address on official documents?

[@dmitrymonchares]

Thank you for giving people credit and mentioning their names

[@mi1400]

No its called "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious"... they just solved the problem using obvious/logical way gave its a summarizing formatting template and done... now lets build a fantasy castle of enigma over it for PR and Media and a press release "...aww thanks.. actually we hire and have a lot of young Sheldon's to turn problem into magic solution ... just dont talk about our titanic touring vessel" ..... Steve Job also used these gimic "Reverse engineering 'GLORY' out of obvious" ... thats why Bill Gates has more noble and elegant personality ... i was laughing at Steve's reverse engineering habit when i saw that ever aw so inspiringly glorious reasoning with a iPod miniaturizing team by dropping a prototype in aquarium showing bubbles mean still allowance of space removal... he reversed it from common sense that say smartphones had to install screen sperate and touch panel separate but later both were fused into one .. that FABs were not advanced or both were from different FABs but later mergers etc let the parts FUSE... so smartphones are slim cuz more disparate parts are fused together.. What Steve just did was deceiving/concealing by twisting the wordings of his thoughts to make other believe he is a genius ... whereas in first place it was just basic thought in Steve's mind like every other person.

[@alileevil]

So two women from America did a better job at helping us navigate than our own Government.

[@forsearching]

Yes exactly

[@newbie8051]

Why would the govt help you with this lol Having a name for every street is useless, and you won't be anyways remembering the chowk/street based on some politicians name, much more likely to remember the local landmark (statue, glass building, fountain, some retail store) etc..

[@rahulkaid]

Google did it out of self interest. They needed to do it so their product was useable. India never had such a use case before. Once the tech became available for everyone, Indian companies and the Indian government also did similar exercises

[@alileevil]

@ sign boards on the road that help people navigate are a thing you know.

[@kakorotskywalker]

Sums that up pretty much..... Governments all throughout the globe majorly being shit is not even a surprise.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Google Maps still has lot of challenges in UI/UX, but they are overcome one of the biggest navigation challenges in the world, navigating in India.

[@oriol108]

The problem is that landmarks names are in hindi or bengali or whatever, so if you can't read devanagari ?

[@Sleepyirishcoffee]

@@oriol108only a problem in impoverished areas. The entirety of South and Bombay before the 2000s had signs in english

[@phoebeyutbt]

Which current challenge do you hope they change soon?

[@tzzzzzb6129]

​@@oriol108 Lens?

[@AkashKumar-qo3xj]

Flyover direction is the major problem in India​@@phoebeyutbt

[@rusticcloud3325]

Ah, what a nice way to navigate India. Hope they also do this in Yogyakarta, Indonesia since most of residential streets don't even have a name. But Yogyakarta do have detailed address tho, so I hope it's easier.

[@proboiz_50]

I always doubt that google is listening us through mic but now i think they are stalking us😅

[@soyanshumohapatra]

You think? That's a fact! *Go to your maps and click on timeline*

[@proboiz_50]

@soyanshumohapatra i know , but they only know about our location,and what we say, they can't see through our camera, can they?

[@soyanshumohapatra]

@@proboiz_50 no but Google has all your photos all your contacts

[@vintagegenious]

Why doubt proven facts

[@khanra17]

Why are u so dumbb ? ​@@soyanshumohapatra

[@takers786]

Great video, straight to the point, no loud music, no yelling, entertaining. Subscribed!

[@scytube]

0:46 As someone born and raised in Mannheim, I love that you mentioned it. :) Fun fact: Google Maps still incorrectly gives the block names to the streets, too. Which is nonsense, as every street will have _two_ blocks adjacent to it. How do you name the street between, let's say, U5 and U6? Do you call it U5 or U6? And one more fun fact: In Germany, motorways are named "A" (for "Autobahn") followed by a number, usually signposted white on blue. National highways are named "B" (for "Bundesstraße") followed by a number, usually signposted black on yellow (e.g. B37, B38 and B44 in your Mannheim screenshot). And then there's the International E-Road network for motorways interconnecting Europe, named "E" followed by a number, usually signposted white on green. And sure enough, the names of the downtown streets (wrongly) named like "A3", "B6" or "E7" were, and sometimes still are, displayed in these special colors. In fact, you can even see an example in your screenshot: There's a white-on-green "E7" in the middle of the city. The actual E-Road E7 connects France and Spain.

[@fermitupoupon1754]

I don't know if Google Maps still does this, because I haven't used it in a long time. But it did a similar thing here in NL. Where if you had your phone set to the default English, which is US English, it'd read out "enter the A73 / East 31" instead of E31, ironically the A73 runs pretty much north-south. Similarly it'd call every N-road, like the N847 "North 847", and again the same with for example the S100 becoming "south 100". A-roads are national motorways, N-roads are major provincial routes, E-roads are well E-roads, and S-roads are major arterial roads within larger cities S for Stad. This would become insanely hard to follow when it starts to tell you to "turn left onto South 103 North 326" instead of the actual street name that we'd use. And in some neighbourhoods it's still daft, as the entire neighbourhood has a name as a whole, and then the streets are numbered in the order in which they are built. And instead of telling you to "turn right onto 12th street" it just keeps on saying "turn right on to neighbourhood-name" because it just considers all of the street numbers to be part of the house number. This makes navigating in a couple of really large neighbourhoods with big flats a problem, because there can be a 10-104 as well as a 101-04, the difference being 10th street number 104 versus 101st street number 04. But Google, like so many others, drop the hyphen because that's more convenient for their system.

[@guidodraheim7123]

Yes, I just checked a path in Mannheim and it gave a direction "turn into Q3" being after the block instead of treating the block as a landmark so that it would ask for a turn into the street on the frontside. The weird thing here is that google maps refers to some street names with giving both blocks like "Fressgass/P7/Q7". So it could atleast resolve the ambiguity if google maps would distinguish "turn into Q2/Q3" and "turn into Q3/Q4".

[@schockocraft4897]

As a local I usually call the streets in mannheim by the part the adjacent blocks differ at. the street between B4 and B5 is "4-5" and the street between D6 and E6 is "D-E"

[@phoebeyutbt]

Hi! Yeah, I was also confused after seeing how, on Google Maps, two streets share the same "block" name. I'm curious, how do peeps in Mannheim give directions to one another? Is it also landmarks, reference to the blocks, etc.?

[@scytube]

@@phoebeyutbt We just reference the blocks and house numbers. There's an order to both of them: The blocks are named similar to a chess board (but with a central "axis" in the middle). If you're standing at an edge or corner between blocks, you basically know where you are and which way to walk (or drive, but that's more complicated due to most roads being one way) to any other block. House numbers go around the block. The central axis makes it a bit more complicated, since it splits the letters in two groups (A to K on the west side, L to U on the east), mirrors the block numbers (they start at 1 at the axis and increase outward), and changes the direction the house numbers go (clockwise on the east side, counter-clockwise on the west), but it's something that can be learned easily in a few minutes. Tom Scott has a short video on Mannheim ("This city centre has no street names"), while beyounged goes into more detail in his video "This City Has The Most Confusing Street Numbers in the World" (although I don't agree about it being so complicated).

[@sairajburewar]

One might say, Google map team has found its “Jugaad”

[@anata.one.1967]

Bruh, I never noticed that, all my life in Nagpur, I thought it was normal, apparently not. Thanks for the insight.

[@anandshinde9941]

Thank you for covering my hometown, Pune. 3:57 The street you captured in this clip is a walkable distance from my home.

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

Thanks for doxxing yourself. I'm homing down to your location as we speak. You will see me in your halls and your walls.

[@pranavpawar2603]

I am from Pune as well 😅

[@babyyaga2201]

Thanks for doxxing yourself . I will be visiting and "following you for ground research" soon. Cheers

[@ShubhamSharma-tn3wm]

Land of hit and runs

[@seventhuser904]

​@@ShubhamSharma-tn3wm It has become the home of Gavthi Chapri and Gundas

[@Jadhavvvvvvv]

😂😂😂 main problem is whenever flyover comes.....to take it or not 😂😂😂😂

[@Priyansh-n9z]

yeah its still a problem

[@Mystery_Fruit]

I think with the recent update, there's an indication that says take flyover. At least in the major areas

[@soyanshumohapatra]

It shows the road if you look at it carefully

[@ManvinderSinghWalia]

No no, they fixed it. It now actually says, take the flyover

[@DivjotSingh]

Yeah the new update explicitly calls out to take the fly over. So much better than iconography

[@giulia1436]

Wow, UX research is so cool. Thanks for your videos, you are making me passionate about UX Design!

[@whyDMYA]

Been following your youtube journey for a while, love your style, your choice of topics, research etc. Awesome work

[@SuspendedYT]

Great video! Never noticed the street names thing till you pointed it out now. It just hit me we use area names and not names of individual roads since there are so many small rural roads. Subbed!

[@pattabiramanmuthu9235]

02:30 Imagine following someone just to see how they reach their destination 😂 Excellent video BTW ❤❤❤❤ love from India.

[@patodeweloperka]

In the Soviet Union during the Cold War, there were some strange practices regarding maps and city layouts. To prevent foreign spies from gathering intelligence, many cities didn't have street names; instead, they were often referred to by numbers or other designations. Additionally, maps were heavily censored, with critical locations either omitted entirely or misrepresented to obfuscate their true nature. This culture of secrecy extended to everything from military bases to government buildings, creating a labyrinth of confusion for anyone trying to navigate these areas.

[@vytah]

It's still a thing in China. Enable both layers on Google Maps and see how they do not match up at all. Or see the discontinuities on the China-Vietnam border, like at the Manqi-Lào Cai border crossing.

[@annaapple7452]

The censoring of maps happened in Western Europe, too. I took a cartography class in the 90s in which they showed us how to spot these areas on the map. Only when satellite data became ubiquitous, they seemed to have stopped the all too blatant fudging.

[@user-sz1hf]

@@vytah Partly false, accurate maps are in fact provided to local Chinese map applications, like Gaode Map and Baidu Map

[@vytah]

@user-sz1hf the maps provided to Chinese map apps are not accurate. The difference is that while Google uses distorted street maps and correct satellite photos, Chinese apps distort both.

[@prajwaltirpude8582]

As someone who is born in nagpur. Worked in pune and had aloo paratha at chaitanya pune in 2008. This video is too close to my reality lol Thanks for making it and i always wondered how they will solve maps in india. They did better than what i would have imagined adding landmarks like kirana store with actual name of the street( which no one knows) along with all helpful extra info. Now i wonder how they will solve driving in india as its similar problem on steroids.

[@KhushiSingh-ix6fs]

so real! at 0.06 s i know exactly where that's from too

[@cameronball3998]

super insane how they figured that out. very very cool vid. thanks for sharing

[@maheshwaritanay8]

cant believe you explained all that in under 5 minutes, amazing video!!!

[@Zei33]

I’m going to India next year and I can’t wait to see this myself. Very interesting video. Great work

[@Semmelein]

I'm watching this from India right now and everything suddenly makes so much more sense. 😂

[@jerinjose7590]

Beautiful Presentation. The way you are communicating and infographics are very effective and funny as well. Looking forward to watching more videos like these. Thanks!

[@curious_one1156]

Subtle observation: The Open Street Map of India does not show entire J&K as part of India. You cleverly did not show whole of the state to avoid this controversy. Kudos on your own UXR !

[@HarshitWise]

At 00:01, I can see the Indian version of the google maps. This video is clearly made for click(bait)s from Indians.

[@FaisalJaber-q3e]

Amazingly directed video! I don't usually watch smaller content creator videos because they can be harder to keep up with and are often poorly directed, but this was truly one of the best videos I've seen in terms of direction and engaging the viewer! You hook us with a great hook, introduce the problem, and hint at solutions, all while keeping a positive and funny tone. I didn't even realize this was a smaller channel until the end of the video when I turned to like it and saw your like count. Keep up the good work; your quality is absolutely superb!!

[@MarcSpctr]

Google Maps have became an important part of Indian Household today. Ofcourse everyday places are no issue. but earlier, reaching a new place was a very difficult task, it would be next to impossible with today's traffic. thanks to Google Maps, we can navigate through traffic, use shortcuts, etc while reaching the correct place. even when trekking/hiking, etc it is amazing. and it is more amazing since it added support for 2-wheelers.

[@stormveil]

0:33 - odometer or milometer for distance traveled. Compass is only direction.

[@madhusudanpathani1953]

She's talking about we it was hard to give directions in India and that is shown by compass

[@stormveil]

​@@madhusudanpathani1953please listen and watch again. She specifically says the compass gave distance. I am sure it is unintentional and she knows already but it is still what was said.

[@KittenDome]

Honestly, that's really cool (from a developers POV).

[@kwanele_dev]

I am watching this as someone who primarily uses landmarks to navigate places with street names, because they are so easier to use

[@Dark_Eagle_._]

A very insightful video, thats exactly how we navigate in India

[@cdkw2]

The pronunciation are top notch (this isnt a joke you actually did a good job)

[@JatinBhatnagar238]

Great video Phoebe! I have to admit, I have a terrible sense of direction-Google Maps has truly been a lifesaver for me. I also really appreciated how you explained the importance of adapting products to local conditions for them to succeed. It was insightful and well-articulated!

[@Nirv1006]

While watching this video, I was wondering why not knowing the street name is a problem, because we have real time GPS giving us directions. Then I searched for the original article and found that this amazing endeavor was taken before real time GPS was being used and Google Maps only provided you written directions. Interesting!

[@KristopherNoronha]

I was using google maps back in 2008 when Google maps wasn't even a mobile app! I remember planning my trips by routing on the computer, and writing the directions on a piece of paper - my phone didn't have GPS either!

[@KristopherNoronha]

I was using google maps back in 2008 when Google maps wasn't even a mobile app! I remember planning my trips by routing on the computer, and writing the directions on a piece of paper - my phone didn't have GPS either!

[@anushakabber2709]

Loved the video!! Maps was integral for me navigating in India. It's come very far

[@wanderlust0120]

Google maps has come a long way in India. Today it only rarely leads you into a deep river while returning home from work.

[@kamilmajdanik8834]

If street doesn’t have name then you can split it and use block name around it as street name. Makes perfect sense

[@ace_ln6991]

I have no clue how this video opened up in a tab but as an engineer I ain't complaining, very clever way of implementing directions.

[@mdqmatias]

Another cool thing about this is that the same people feed the database, since if a sign or a business changes, people can contribute those changes and the application learns from them to keep the signs up to date.

[@sknr4801]

It's true. We never used street names.. It's always landmarks. Even now, if you ask anyone in the street, they will give landmarks for directions. Even highways no one remembers... They are anyways named as origin to dest like Mumbai pune highway, although they have names like nh1 - nh2...

[@yatchrider]

absolutely did not expect pune to come up! as a resident in pune, google maps is the go to app and plus the road infrontof me was given a name by google maps!

[@VikasSingh-r7d]

Loved the simplistic way you used to explain this, thanks

[@dawnstar24]

0:06 wtf. I did not expect I'll see my house on KZbin today.

[@AshmithKrenjith]

Which one lol?? ( Dw absolutely not gonna stalk u hahah ;)

[@helper_bot]

I recognize that piece of bedrock, see you soon

[@nilax21]

😂

[@Grilledburger99]

Is that Vetal Tekdi or Baner hills?

[@abhijeetsasane3792]

Seems like😊​@@Grilledburger99

[@notnullbit]

Awesome video. Also, super helpful that you added the link to the desc.

[@mclovin6537]

Whoever you are, you just sparked my interest in maps

[@djr3386]

2:21 Love your sense of humour. 👍🏼

[@EndyMX]

"This is crazy"

[@VrindaKhatore09]

WOW, hello from India! Kudos to Oleg and Janet for finding the real deal coming down to India and work it around in the most realistic way, so much to learn from this!

[@SriTejaChilakapati]

A clever, scrappy, DIY fix for a problem that really works-that's so Indian, we even have a word for it: "jugaad." Awesome video!

[@nicolasfiore]

The title made me think that they had fixed India's problem. But really they just solved their own problem.

[@IdequelBernabel]

I had no idea about that, but, I learned it here today.

[@jflecool]

Your sense of humor is great and the pacing/editing is on point! hope you get a million subscriber soon!

[@Achin_Jain]

India too is mapped as per blocks & neighbourhoods. I.e. It'll be House no., Block & Neighbourhood (Instead of Street), City, State, Postal code.

[@joggo426]

Hi! Indian here.. local one.. Google maps shows wrong name for the street just outside my house. There are some short cuts that Google doesn't show at all. And i live in a metro city. For me the best way to use Google maps is to watch where I am.. look on map if thats same or not.. then figure out which left or right turn to make.. how many streets away it is.. and if possible double check before taking the turn. But but, all these are negative things.. the best thing Google maps did for me is it shows where I need to go.. secondly it calculates the time it would take me to go.. it's not exact.. but it works..that's really really great.. and because of that i tend to use Google maps every day.. it didn't solve the problem you mentioned in the video.. but it did solve something which maybe Google hasn't expected..

[@sh1vaz1]

You can edit maps or addresses add missing streets manually gadhe

[@GMPranav]

These two map ladies have no idea that they are the guiding light for millions of people today. Especially the younger generation.

[@SuperPrem]

Solving problems without customers ever realizing they wouldn’t use the product if the problem being solved existed. A tale as old as consumer products . Great Video, insightful!

[@TheDigitalOne]

Excellent video, I guess culture could come in to play when giving directions, even in the US when giving verbal directions one uses landmarks and places to guide individuals to get to one’s desired place and quite clever coding solution to a quite simple, but complicated directional problem. Not going to type any directions in India, I trust you enough, ehehehe. Now, just wondering where are you taking us next in your next video? 🥰👩‍💻💫💎

[@Agrim_raj7]

We got several old people hanging out on tea shops and cctv like aunties who watch everything (literally everthing). And then their are shop owners. These people help everyone.

[@GerbenWulff]

I am in the Philippines. In my neighbourhood in the province the local roads are shown on google maps, but you cannot access them through street view and the street names are not on the map. In my experience in cities street view does work. We do use street names to navigate here, although you can not always read the signs. Local governments are in charge of the local roads, so it depends on them whether you have signs and what they look like. Here in the province there are not many roads, which makes it easier to navigate. Google maps has a lot of 'landmarks' in the form of businesses that have put their location on the map, but they are not noted in the directions. These location markers however are not always up to date. Across the street from me is a location known as 'The steak house' on google maps. Apparently they had a restaurant years ago. Now they have a sign on the building: 'House for rent'. There is no more steakhouse sign. I wonder if I should just put that on the map. I personally just ask the locals when I am not sure. I note that Google often ignores the street names. When describing roads between places, they just tell you to take the X to Y road (road from city X to city Y). For the local roads they say 'Turn right' like they used to do in India. I think Google still has plenty of work to do here.

[@daphneytalekar6704]

Crazy good work Phoebe! Always rooting for you :)

[@daphneytalekar6704]

This also showed up on my feed LOL insane

[@MrFreshasMint]

India does have street names for main streets, but not for alleyways. But people find it more convenient to describe routes using landmarks.

[@JanKut]

Its fascinating how they actually didn’t change anything about india and kept it the same. It allows users to be more familiar with the app.

[@erebostd]

Mannheim is a bad example for a street name problem, because those blocks (Quadrate) are very accurately named, that’s the whole point of it. If you are on C2 and want to go to A1 it’s super easy to find your way without looking on any names, even on foot….

[@rkan2]

Ordnung muss sein!

[@thiloreichelt4199]

The blocks are very accurately named, but the designation refers to the block between the streets, while everybody expects it to designate the streets between the blocks.

[@craesh]

​@@thiloreichelt4199true. But you get used to it quickly. The only issue is that's impossible to know that e.g. Q5 4 is right in front of Q4 12. You can still easily navigate to both.

[@herveschlaflang301]

I wish those pass-by directions were used everywhere! That's how I give directions, cause I can't never remember the street names!

[@Raghibsays]

I'm an Indian. Google maps has lots of incorrect names and locations about the place where I live. I have ended up kilometers away from the exact location twice because of it.

[@bilgaxer]

You can suggest edits and updates on the app, including road changes. I too had a huge problem navigating to my house, as it always gave me the wrong way which confused uber drivers. But with a lot of people suggesting an edit they finally changed it and now its fixed

[@StephenDeTomasi]

Suggest edits in the app. Also remind your local government to invest in naming streets. It really helps

[@kshri101]

​@@StephenDeTomasiLocal government is a joke in India. It's an outstanding achievement for a local government if they repair roads and drainage properly and on time without misusing public funds for personal gain. Street names can be their priority may be after 20 years, and no work will be done by them unless a political entity forces it on them.

[@NawfatJK]

I love this video so much, short concise and descriptive to the point not forced to be longer then 10 minutes riddled with filler info for the sake of algorithm push. Thankyou!!

[@vivekanandan5093]

Relying on G Maps in India is like Exploring Mars for life.... It's too hard to be accurate all the time. i have reached dead ends so many times and sometimes to dump yards as final destination for something like showroom or food place 😂. It's useful also very challenging for Google to be accurate most of the time. It has literally helped everyone (from what's that to use that)

[@wasimshaikh1665]

This is best KZbin suggestion I ever had. Great work

[@chucklessss]

As someone who lives in India, 1:50 is something people still say when giving instructions

[@aayushg8]

Can confirm this, my uncle has very famous shop in Mumbai and everyone recognises and knows the name of this shop. Google map literally tells to goto this shop and turn left or right depending on where you want to go.

[@ninja4O5]

People working at google are insanely impressive with whatever they do.

[@jojosoni]

Google maps have saved me so many times. Only big issue right now is when it comes to flyovers, it's a mess. U won't know whether u should have gone on flyover or below it unless u r a bit far.

[@anudeepdesai]

They have fixed it very recently, but mapmyindia did better job imo

[@nikhilreddy8550]

@@anudeepdesai never used mapmyindia. Is it worth the try or am i good with google maps?

[@bilgaxer]

It has always been easy, you just have to pay attention to the lane indications before taking a flyover. See what lane it tells you to stay in, and stay on that side/part of the road and you'll be fine. Now with the popup 'take flyover' its even easier but yeah

[@nikhilreddy8550]

@@bilgaxer On a crazy busy road sometimes it becomes difficult to pick it up when you are more focused on the road than the maps. Especially when the flyover has roads on either side. Also some folks struggle reading maps even when it is obvious. There is a usecase for that "take flyover" hence why it came into existence.

[@hanfo420]

The thing is: That is how people navigate naturally everywhere. Street names and house numbers are there for navigation software. We don’t say „go 3.45km straight at BSbvd then turn left“ 😅

[@TaranDOTS]

Great short and fun video! I love the way it was presented.

[@mariuskaesser]

Funny, I did not expect my hometown Mannheim being mentioned in a video about Google Maps in India. I really like your video, very interesting and concise. Also I saw some people complimenting your pronounciation of indian names and I might add that your german pronounciation is great aswell. Thank you very much for going the extra mile

[@luffy5775]

0:10 that aloo parantha you said was so sweet 😍

[@padmanavbora7653]

Aabe yaar😂

[@luffy5775]

@@padmanavbora7653 abe yaar ka kya mtlb hai 👿

[@DibyajyotiPatraAshu]

But Still Bit Off... She Said The "TH" Sound As "थ" (Aspirated DENTAL T), Whereas It Should Rather Be Like "ठ" (Aspirated RETROFLEXIVE T)...!!!

[@luffy5775]

@@DibyajyotiPatraAshu thats why i said cute? my opinion bruh

[@DibyajyotiPatraAshu]

@@luffy5775 Definitely Man... Thought It Felt Better To Elaborate A Bit, Especially On The Context...

[@merasoul6520]

since most people seem to have already written what i wanted to express, i must say i am thankful to you for mentioning other similar countries that do not have street names either. because people these day will use anything to hate on india out of ignorance.

[@JaleelBeig]

*Phoebe getting herself one of those channel boosters by dropping India in the title*

[@sanskarstudybusiness3535]

Nah she fine as long its not bait. I actually hadn't heard of this before so its pretty interesting to watch, and as long as she doesn't actually become one of *them* she should be cool kek

[@spookymiller5017]

Thank you for making the video 4 minutes instead of some 2 hour video essay that no one watches all the way

[@annaczgli2983]

Very interesting study. Thanks for the video!

[@rahuljadhavcreates]

Excellent video, as always. Good job!

[@maxe159]

Sounds more like Google had the issue not India

[@bharath211]

Mindblowingly simple! As an Indian I can relate to the "ground research" the ladies came up with!

[@syakhiskk]

Great video, no BS, pure information.

[@PizzaGuy25]

One of the best KZbin videos I've seen.

[@dresdenkiller]

The fact that they then gave it to everyone for free, makes them deserving of international recognition and gratitude 🙏

[@bilgaxer]

Nothing in this world is free. They have your most important information, which is your data. In this case, it also includes your location data which it tracks 24x7

[@meraj205]

​@@bilgaxernot 24/7 unless you explicitly opt in to it.

[@malli561]

@@meraj205 the optout limits them from collecting data from their own Direct services but not from third parties. the apps are obligated to serve the data to google. and if you have multiple mails, you will need to optout from all of them. even though you are not using your other mails actively, the data will be collected. have seen it happening reallife.

[@CliffordBreeden]

Great video. At the end, I was hoping they would just assign names to streets based on the landmarks people referenced, like Water Fountain Way or something.

[@GaryFerrao]

It was a problem because it made the USA assumption that all streets have names. But kudos to the team for actually coming on site and testing how directions work locally.

[@pruthweeshasalian3688]

The premise of this video is mostly wrong. all streets in India have names, and when they don't, they're numbered.

[@dsmvfl363]

This is one of my new favorite videos. Quick, simple, and answers an interesting question

[@ngoclong2k5-hust]

At least India at that time has a more organized street system. In HCMC, Vietnam (at least before 2017, 2018), street names there were absolutely unorganized. There were many cases of "3 streets with the same name in a district", "funky street names", "disorganized block numbers", "lengthy addresses because of alleys & lanes",... Their government finally started to fix this since 2020, after nearly an entire decade of being criticized by the media, the people, and even some government entities, too.

[@g77v7nn7]

i love how direct and straight to the point ur videos :)

[@ArunWadhwa]

In Delhi where we do have street names, the addition of landmarks only leads to more confusion since most of the ‘so-called landmarks’ that Google cites are obscure places. Plus, the readability itself is not good either. I’d argue that Google’s success in such metro cities wasn’t due to the fact that it was objectively the better mapping solution, but because it had all the data of the local places (which if I’m not mistaken was initially scraped off from other websites) and a lack of competition. People don’t use Google Maps because they like it - it’s because there is no other alternative. It’s a shame that Apple never formally entered the Indian Mapping/Navigation Market.

[@bletwort2920]

It's the lack of competition. In Mumbai, when you want to go straight ahead Google Maps will tell you to take a U-turn to go back, then take another U-turn to come back to your starting point, and THEN go straight 😂. It's hilarious how often this happens. I take cab everyday and every few days the cab driver will take a sudden turn in a different direction because Google told him to.

[@NJ-wb1cz]

Why don't Indian companies develop their own mapping services and apps? Surely local companies have way better understanding of the local market than two random Americans coming to India for a couple of days. In Russia, both of the two local alternatives to Google Maps are better. They are more convenient, have better coverage, more features, more detailed maps, better apps, better navigation, etc. It's really weird that with the amount of programmers India has and well over a billion of potential customers, no one developed better localized maps

[@rakhuramai]

​​@@NJ-wb1cz natively developed mapping software have been coming up lately such as mapmyindia and ola maps. google even cut their map api prices just recently.

[@sankyboi]

@@NJ-wb1cz Yes we have a lot of programmers but very few of them are competent.

[@ArunWadhwa]

@@NJ-wb1cz we do have local mapping softwares, but they never really caught on - one needs a marketing budget too. And mapping softwares inherently are loss leaders and don’t have as much revenue potential anyway.

[@dasreicht]

The Indian system would be pretty good in the rest of the world imo. I’d notice passing a cathedral or a fountain more than Blahblah Street

[@Elijah-e6v]

I appreciate that you suggested Sarah Jennine Davis in one of your videos. She was contacted, and working with her on investments has been fantastic.

[@anilhettiarachci8467]

Wow, congratulations on your impressive :nvestment success! Your discipline and focus on delayed gratification is truly inspiring. I'm curious, what are some of the key factors that you consider when making :nvestment decisions? Do you have any tips for those of us who are just starting to dip our toes into the world of :nvesting? Thanks for sharing your story!

[@สมรักษ์อินทร์ตา-ม7ฑ]

Do you mind sharing info on the adviser who assisted you? I'm 39 now and would love to grow my portfolio and plan my retirement

[@jasmeenmalhotra2225]

Loved this video. Super high quality content and so fun to watch. Subscribing