I have been traveling a lot, and much of it was in the remote corners of my country. Before Google Maps, various scales of paper maps were used for navigation by professionals.
In this way of navigation, calculations were very important and the information on the maps was very limited (compass and a measuring tool were a must) and quite often local peoples guidance was required.
I was at a very remote area in Rajesthan in 1987, where my colleagues were supposed to join me, but they did not show-up for a week, as they were unable to navigate to my place and after failing all their best efforts they took help from a local guide, who brought them to my place. Navigation was an art then.
After the birth of smartphone’s, Google made an amazing App. and i.e. Google Maps for Android and IOS systems. This was not only a revolutionary step in navigation but this app. offered much more than that. And with this the navigation came into everyones palm, but only for those who had a smartphone. It is so easy to use and no special skills of any sort are required for navigating on this app.
In the June month of 2015, I visited MCLeod Ganj near Dharamshala in northern part of India, using Google Maps. At the hotel I was searching for places worth visiting at MCLeod Ganj on Google Maps and found a waterfall nearby and was able to open a few pictures of the water fall,
which gave me an idea as to what it looked like, so I went to the waterfall, clicked a few pictures and when back at hotel, I explored the Google Maps as to how my pictures could be uploaded on it, and after a little struggle, was able to upload a few pictures. After a few days I checked for my pictures on the Google Maps and was surprised that not only my pictures appeared on the Google Maps but people were viewing my pictures and the numbers kept increasing everyday. This motivated me to uploading more pictures.
On 18 Nov 2016, I made trip to Bengaluru from there I went by road to Mysuru, Ooty and then to Coimbatore. I clicked a lot of pictures at all the
tourist spots I visited and posted many of these pictures on the Google Maps. And it was a great surprise for me as the viewing of these pictures shot up like a rocket, this boosted my moral for uploading more pictures and a new hobby of photography started picking up.
In the year 2018, I planned a trip for New York. Along side other preparations, I started checking about New York on Google Maps for tourist spots, streets, hotels, restaurants, luggage rooms, trains, buses, shopping centre’s and much more. I checked the details as per my budget and cross checked the reviews of people so that I should not face any problem if something went wrong, I saw a lot of pictures and videos of all the places I intended to visit. And tried to master the names of streets, Avenues, roads, bus/train stops etc.
On 05th Jun 2018 I landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, my friend came to pick me up from the airport. I told him that I would prefer visiting Ground Zero for paying my homage to the people who lost their precious lives at the twin towers before heading home,
my friend drove the SUV to New York, but after entering New York he made two rounds around a block as he was using the GPS of his brand new SUV, but was not quite familiar with the GPS of the SUV. At this I requested him to allow me the privilege to guide him through New York, he hesitated as this was my first visit to New York, but without any other option he surrendered and allowed me to navigate. I took his smartphone, as mine was not working in New York, set the destination to Ground Zero on Google Maps and in a few minutes were in front of Ground Zero site. I guided
him through the place as I had seen many pictures/ videos of this place on Google Maps in advance. We paid our tributes to the people who sacrificed their precious lives at the twin towers on 11 Sep 2001.
After this I requested him to take me to 33 street 9 Avenue, as I wanted to buy a camera from B&H Photo Video Electronics and camera Store. And my friend told me to navigate (by now he had conference in my navigation skills) as he had not heard of any such store, as he stays at distance from New York. The navigation to B&H store was very easy with the help of Google Maps. I knew a lot about B&H store before hand so the purchase did not take much time.
This made me realise that the information posted by everyone on the Google Maps is of great value for those who wish to make tour to an unfamiliar destinations on this globe.
One should always think out of the box for new ideas and contribute their bit for making the Google Maps eco friendly. As per my views maximum information of all sorts like hospitals, clinics, shops, bakeries, malls, restaurants, hotels, marriage palaces, small tea stalls, cafes,
flower shops, tourist spots, historic places and every other place which could help everyone, should be posted on the Google Maps. The only thing to be kept in mind is that the information is authentic, the pictures are of high quality and the reviews should be unbiased and true. As this has helped me a lot and am sure it will help everyone on this Globel village.
Wishing you all a very happy journey on this planet.