It is no secret that locating an address can be major problem in Indian cities and towns. While some addresses are well-defined by street names and house numbers, others include vague landmarks and can be hard to locate. To make it easier for the users to locate addresses, Google on Tuesday announced three news features – Plus Codes, Add an Address and Smart Address Search .
Google Plus Codes
Google is launching an open-source initiative called Plus Codes, which is a simple addressing system that works not only in India, but also globally. The search giant has divided the geographical surface of the Earth in tiny boxes, each of which is linked to a unique code. The code includes six characters, which combined with the city name, will direct the user to one specific location.
Since Plus Codes are unique and a linked to a fixed location, they are great for sharing. To use a Plus Code, simple search the code on Google Maps on any device and the service will instantly show the location.
“Plus Codes can be used for a wide variety of reasons including communicating the venue of a temporary event, guiding emergency services to afflicted locations, and providing an identifiable location for complicated addresses,” Google wrote in a blog post.
You can find more information at plus.codes.
Add an address
To further strengthen address search in Google Maps, Google is introducing “Add an Address” feature to crowd-source address information. This feature will allow the Maps users to contribute new or missing addresses. These additions will be verified and added to the Google database.
Smart Address Search
Lastly, Google is using its considerable database and machine learning to improve address search. The company says that smarter address search will try and offer the best estimate of the location of the address to the users.
“If Google Maps doesn’t understand the address precisely, it will try to use all the pieces of information in the address and provide options of landmarks and points of interest that the user can best identify with — exactly like a person would have,” explained Google.
