Category Archives: Google India Blog

The Official Google Blog for India

Explore your world with these new Google Maps features

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From showing you the quickest morning commutes, to helping you stay safe on your ride home at the end of the day, Google Maps has a long history of building India-first features to keep Indians on the move, safely.


But we want to help with more than just getting from A to B. Starting today, we are happy to announce three new features in Google Maps available to Indian users on their phones: a redesigned, India-inspired Explore tab, a new For You experience, and dining Offers that help you find places you’re likely to enjoy with deals to make the experience even sweeter. Whether it's finding things to do in an area or getting offers on dining out, or recommending places and experiences, we hope Google Maps can now help you discover a new side to your city. 




Explore tab: Ever since we launched the Explore tab, it has been a one-tap means of getting suggestions on dining, events, and things to do based on the area being viewed. But we wanted to make this experience even more helpful; to reflect the rich diversity of local neighborhoods and communities. Which is why we have redesigned the Explore tab for India.


We’ve heard that Indian Maps users prefer a more assistive and visual browsing experience that is easy to access. Based on top queries and the way people interact with Google Maps in India, we’ve added seven shortcuts that you can access from the Explore tab: Restaurants, Petrol Pumps, ATMs, Offers, Shopping, Hotels, and Medical Shops. Using machine learning, we automatically identify the top suggestions across these categories in every city.


In addition to exploring near your location, you can now also explore other popular neighborhoods in your city -- simply tap the arrow option next to “Explore Nearby”. Using machine learning, we’re  able to automatically identify the top areas in every city. Besides your own city, you can also look up other Indian cities by just searching the city name -- an easy way to get up to speed before you travel.




For You: Didn’t know about that hip new cafe that opened up in a neighboring suburb? Now it’s easier than ever to stay in-the-know: tap the For You tab to get inspiration on new restaurants, trending places, and personalized recommendations tailored to your interests. This feature also uses the ‘Your Match’ score, which uses machine learning to combine what we know about millions of places with the information you’ve added -- restaurants you’ve rated, cuisines you’ve liked, and places you have visited. The first time you use this feature you can select the areas/localities you are interested in, and get more personalized and relevant recommendations over time.


Not only that, users can now ‘follow’ a business and get business updates, news on events and stay on top of any offers posted by them in the ‘For You’ tab. We’ll also recommend other businesses based on merchants you follow -- these interests are user-defined and also inferred by Google.


The For You tab offers a simple, assistive experience to help you discover your city with a single tap -- and it will continue to improve over time.




Offers: Everyone loves a good deal, but keeping track of offers from newspaper clippings or email announcements or through multiple apps can be hard — and lead to a bulging wallet. That's why we've added a way to discover local offers, starting with restaurants. We are launching an Offers section where you can find deals and claim them at restaurants across the top 11 Indian metros. Simply tap the ‘Offers’ shortcut in the Explore tab or filter for restaurants with offers. We’re launching this feature in partnership with EazyDiner, where you can now find offers for over 4,000 restaurants and hope to add many more categories and partners soon.


We can’t wait for you to try out these new features, and to discover those hidden gems in your city. Happy exploring!

Posted by Krish Vitaldevara, Director, Google Maps, and Chandu Thota, Director, Google Maps

Get alerts with Google Maps if your vehicle goes off-route

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/E-onB1zDiYOKAtubcCgVg3S4sH6YcaEESJF3XsERTu0MH1ZEkZ0BD20by94COOs2dea4KRExSCvzpDkEzSbG1-tXWaFud73fPrWUTaRzVM7iidIBadHYtdr8Ii5Qry-rTQe3qlzB Amanda Bishop Product Manager Google Maps
Smita left her office late in the evening and boarded an auto-rickshaw for her 30-min trip back home. After a long day at work, instead of relaxing and catching up on her chats, she was constantly checking Google Maps to ensure that the driver was on the right route. 


At Google Maps, we have focused on building India-first features to deliver a more relevant and reliable experience for our users. Through our extensive research across India, we found that a lot of people limit their mobility due to safety-related concerns. Today, we're excited to announce a new feature - Stay Safer - for passengers like Smita, traveling in taxis and auto-rickshaws, to give them peace of mind, or avoid being taken through a longer route. 


Now, after searching for your destination and getting directions, you can enable this experience by selecting the “Stay safer” and “Get off-route alerts” option. If your driver deviates more than 0.5KM from the Google Maps suggested route, your phone will buzz with a prominent notification, and you can tap it to see where you are compared to the original route. Then, you can also choose to share your live trip with friends and family directly from that screen so they know you are off route and can keep track of your journey, and take appropriate action, if required.

It has been inspiring to work closely with users across India to develop, test and launch this feature. At Google Maps, we are committed to helping make journeys safe and hassle-free and look forward to bringing more experiences like this to India and beyond.


Ready to give it a try? The feature is now available to Android users in India using the latest version of Google Maps. 


By Amanda Bishop, Product Manager, Google Maps

Stories of Yoga on Google Arts & Culture

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/bKIJotzBb6eXKxx0QAr076phfHy0gVDt1IKvVpCfgK00_uZV2lrqBPc5DNOJkbgtXCJ_Cb1aaJgJiA87nAY19z1Pfni3l8mvqYLTDexlMmLFbOamFVvdLyk9jJCQ0GLD1h7E_6q2 Simon Program Manager Google Arts and Culture

Yoga has been around for a few millennia, but I’m completely new to the practice and have only practiced a few poses, like Ekpadasana (the “one leg posture”). Just like a yoga teacher would lead you through the steps of this posture, a new Google Arts & Culture collection called Stories of Yoga, takes you through the history, culture and science behind the practice. If you’re a new yogi like me, follow the sequence below to learn the “one leg posture,” and read on for some insights our partners have shared for the “Stories of Yoga” exhibit.




1. Come to a standing posture. Take in a deep breath. 
Do you know what the word “yoga” means? It has a lot of nuanced interpretations. The ancient Indian text, called Rigveda, implied yoga means “achieving the unachieved,” “harnessing,” or “connection,” and the exhibition “What is Yoga?” explains other interpretations.


2. Finding your balance, bring up your right foot and place it in the center of the inner thigh of your left leg. Your toes should point downward. 
One of the most widely-known gurus, Swami Sivananda, introduced five principles of yoga: proper exercise (āsana), the right breathing (prāṇāyāma), relaxation (śavāsana), proper diet, and positive thinking & meditation (vedānta). 


3. Bring your palms together in front of your chest as if in prayer, and focus your gaze on a spot in the distance in front of you. Exhale.
Yoga is older than you might think, it actually dates back by a few millennia. The so-called Vedas and Upanishads started referring to yoga around 3000 BC. Two of the earliest teachers who recorded texts dedicated to yoga were Yajnavalkya and Patanjali. Visit the Museum of Classical Yoga and explore a brief timeline.


4. Hold the position and inhale and exhale deeply a few times. 
Yoga strengthens your body as well as the mind. Learn about Shri Yogendra, who started off as a wrestler before rooting himself into yoga and founding the Yoga Institute. Or follow the journey of well known guru B.K.S Iyengar, who used yoga to heal his tuberculosis-affected body.


5. Release back into the standing posture slowly, and repeat for the other leg. 
Did you know that women were actually barred from practicing the yoga discipline? Meet pioneer Shrimati Sita Devi Yogendra, who changed perceptions by becoming the first female guru. She introduced sequences specially tailored for women’s physiology. 


6. As a variation, you can lift your arms up all the way while holding the prayer position. As another variation, you can do the entire sequence while lying flat on your back instead of standing. 
There are so many different postures and their variations, and each school has a set of their own. Take a sneak-peek into some of the yoga centers in virtual walkthroughs and see the practice sessions up close. 


It is not a big stretch to learn more about yoga thanks to Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres & Ashrams, The Yoga Institute, Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Vivekananda House and other institutions on Google Arts & Culture at g.co/storiesofyoga.

By Simon Rein, Program Manager, Google Arts & Culture

Neighbourly introduces four new ways to connect with your neighbours

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t5Mu7x9pTw2eCYx2o_Vdjzefiu1pmgTgI_4Lx2cnAKem-LRGYi0RRYWp9TIw-eJ1_5vtMqPR8ahiD_kNS2oSr-E3s6sdUiLlVP7X4fKvNxQJyJ9bFR-J0VBg-WbCwWgQ_8CHvkGX Muzayun Mukhtar User Experience Researcher, Neighbourly
You can now browse and post local photos, events, polls, and tips


Life happens a few kilometers from home or work. Neighbourly is an app that connects local communities to help them learn and share about everything happening nearby. After launching last year in Mumbai, Neighbourly opened up to cities across all of India, with neighbours asking and answering millions of questions along the way.


// Is there a cricket coaching centre for girls around Nangainallur?
// Can a professional photographer in Kadugodi cover a 2 hour event on Saturday 6-8 pm?
// Is anyone looking for a pet black labrador who is lost near the Sector 44 petrol pump?


Neighbours have been eager to share their unique knowledge. According to one samaritan, “I love to check out my mohalla in Indore and help people there with my local knowledge, while I get help from my new neighbours in Bangalore.” We’ve also clearly heard the feedback that asking a question is just the beginning -- there’s so much more local information out there that only neighbours know. With the latest update of Neighbourly, people can now: 


// Post Photos - Snap a photo of the meal you enjoyed at a newly-opened restaurant.
// Create Events - Invite new neighbours to watch an upcoming cricket match.
// Create Polls - Get quick input on the best local vegetarian restaurant.
// Share Tips - Update neighbours on hazards and repairs happening on the roads.

    Neighbourly adds support for local photos, events, polls, and expert tips.


    These features will make it even easier to share with and learn from your neighbours. You can also show off how well you know your neighbourhood by solving a Neighbourhood Challenge -- puzzles that will appear from time-to-time in the app. Your neighbours will then vote on your contribution!

    Enter a Neighbourhood Challenge to show off how well you know your neighbourhood. 


    The Neighbourly app is available on the Google Play Store for all smartphones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher. If you already have Neighbourly, you’ll see these new features starting today. Be sure to try your luck at a Neighbourhood Challenge, too! Neighbourly’s mission is to give people a helpful, human, and local way to keep up with everything happening nearby. We look forward to hearing your feedback.


    By Muzayun Mukhtar, User Experience Researcher, Neighbourly

    Web rangers: Meet the superheroes of 2019

    For the last five years, Google India has been organising Web Rangers contest to raise awareness on Online Safety, and the importance of navigating the web in a safe and secure way by raising awareness amongst youth.


    This year we announced the Web Rangers contest for students aged between 10-17 to share with us their efforts to educate their friends and family on Online Safety. Web Rangers Contest this year had two categories -- Campaigns and Projects that got hundreds of submissions from across India. The students submitted entries that ranged from educational videos, websites and even in person workshops organised in both their schools and neighbourhoods.


    A big shout out and heartiest congratulations to all the web superheroes who won this year.


    The winning submissions are below:


    Web Ranger #1, Rajwinder Singh, Thane, Maharashtra
    Rajwinder Sing built a site to demonstrate the importance of education and awareness on Online Safety and also has a quiz to help you test your knowledge.


    Web Ranger #2, Harshath ramana, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
    Harshath ramana created an animated video sharing tip on staying safe online and how to avoid phishing, especially the ones telling you that you have won a grand prize and try to steal your information.


    Web Rangers #3, Suryansh Pathak, Jaipur, Rajasthan
    Suryansh Pathak created a video, showing the different kind of phishing emails and ransomware and how to recognize if you are being phished or when you lose access to your account. The video explains details of fake link, checking for spelling and also shows how you can avoid ransomware.


    Web Ranger team of #4 #5 and #6, Rishal Pandey Chettri, Sewandeep Sharma, and Aditya Chettri, Gangtok, Sikkim
    The team of Rishal Pandey Chettri, Sewandeep Sharma and Aditya Chettri created Cyber Warriors reaching over 30,000 people. They organised workshops in their schools, along with the slogan writing contest and a quiz. Their efforts were highlighted in the local newspaper and they also ran a social media campaign sharing tips on staying safe on the internet.


    By Sunita Mohanty, Director, Trust & Safety, Google India

    Helping enterprises in India transform their businesses in the cloud

    https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/G3KPUrjBYGKSh6FB_bNwfQncjERxF9lW0NUUJQ9UaPYW19-vBJMMmCBW8Yl6bpLYBB3ppjbZwwqPbwswcQlR8SqAVmqU-Jp1r8V_dG00BjKtd0usHGQOJKKNyf5HlDTFwl6CzVuO Nitin Bawankule Country Director Google Cloud, India


    In the last year, there’s been an upward trend in cloud adoption in India. In fact, NASSCOM finds that cloud spending in India is estimated to grow at 30% per annum to cross the US$7 billion mark by 2022.


    In my conversations with customers, discussions have evolved beyond cost savings and efficiencies. While those are still very relevant reasons for adopting cloud technologies, Indian enterprises are looking to Google Cloud to help them drive digital transformation, identify new revenue generating business models, reach previously untapped consumer markets, and build customer loyalty through greater insight and personalization.


    To help more enterprises in India take advantage of the cloud, today we’re kicking off our Google Cloud Summit in Mumbai and next week we take the show on the road to customers in New Delhi and Bangalore. More of a community gathering than a conference, our Cloud Summits are where conversations start, partnerships form and problems are solved; and where customers convene to learn from their peers and experts about how the cloud is transforming business. It’s also our opportunity to better understand the needs of Indian businesses, and to get inspired by our customers’ success stories. Here are a few highlights.




    Tata Steel: Mining data and maximizing its power


    Tata Steel is a great example of an established enterprise from a traditional industry that is modernizing and embracing cloud computing. With an ambition to be a leader in manufacturing in India and a digital-first organization by 2022, Tata Steel believes smart analytics is key to enhancing operational efficiency and gaining business advantage.

    To organize data from siloed systems across the organization and make it easily accessible to all employees, Tata Steel is using Cloud Search and plans to scale it to more than one million documents and 28 disparate enterprise content sources including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SharePoint. In fact, Tata Steel is one of the first Indian enterprises to harness the power of Cloud Search to meet some of the most aggressive ingestion demands, with indexing durations reduced from weeks to seconds.


    They are also leveraging Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services like Google Cloud Storage and BigQuery to build their data lake and enterprise data warehouse so they can take advantage of advanced analytics and machine learning. Managed services such as AI Platform further enable Tata Steel to manage end-to-end AI/ML workflows within the GCP console. This complements their existing on-premise reporting and analytics tools, and brings data management to the forefront of everything they do—from forecasting market demand to predictive equipment maintenance.


    “Digital is not just a goal, it’s become a way of life. We are digitizing everything from the deployment of factory vehicles to improving material throughput to marketing and sales. As a result, we have petabytes of structured and unstructured data that is not only waiting to be mined, but that we can generate intelligence from to create opportunities across our multiple lines of business using GCP,” said Sarajit Jha, Chief Business Transformation & Digital Solutions at Tata Steel.


    Helping L&T Financial Services reach customers in rural communities


    In rural communities, quick access to financial services can make a tremendous difference to livelihoods. L&T Financial Services provides farm-equipment finance, micro loans and two-wheeler finance to consumers across rural India backed by a strong digital and analytics platform. Their digital-loan approval app, which runs on GCP, makes it significantly faster and easier for people to apply for financial assistance to purchase important things such as farming equipment and two-wheelers. It also helps rural women entrepreneurs get quicker access to funds for their businesses through micro loans.


    L&T Financial found G Suite to be a far better collaborative tool to help staff work together efficiently. Employees can interact with each other in real time using Hangouts Meet, and the task of information sharing is more seamless and secure through Drive. BigQuery also helps L&T Financial Services generate behavior scorecards to track credit quality of its micro-loan customers.


    “Cloud is the technology that enables us to achieve scale and reach. Today there are countless data points available about rural consumers which enable us to personalize our products to serve them better. With access to faster compute power, we can also on-board consumers more efficiently. Our rural businesses have clocked a disbursement CAGR of 60% over the past three years." said Sunil Prabhune, Chief Executive-Rural Finance, and Group Head-Digital, IT and Analytics, L&T Financial Services.


    Creating conversational connections for Digitate’s customers


    Digitate, a venture of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), has integrated Dialogflow into its flagship brand ignio, an award-winning artificial intelligence platform for driving IT operations, workload operations and ERP operations for diverse enterprises. This integration is the next step in ignio’s product development journey, and will enable users to chat or talk with ignio to detect issues, triage problems, resolve them and even predict system behavior.


    “ignio combines its unique self-healing AIOps capabilities for enterprise IT and business operations with Dialogflow’s AI/ML-based, easy to use, natural and rich conversational capabilities to create an unparalleled, intuitive and feature-rich experience for our customers,” says Akhilesh Tripathi, Head of Digitate.


    Indian enterprises going G Suite


    The base of Indian enterprises that are making the switch to G Suite to streamline their productivity and collaboration also continues to grow. Sharechat, BookMyShow, Hero MotorCorp, DB Corp and Royal Enfield are now able to move faster within their organizations, using intelligent, cloud-based apps to transform the way they work.


    A hybrid and multi-cloud future in India


    Customers want and deserve choice and flexibility, and openness continues to be a major differentiator for Google Cloud. Since we announced Anthos, our hybrid, multi-cloud solution at Next ‘19, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. That’s because Anthos embraces open standards, and lets customers run their applications, unmodified, on existing on-prem hardware investments or in the public cloud.


    IDC predicts that by 2023, 55% of India 500 organizations will have a multi-cloud management strategy that includes integrated tools across public and private clouds. (IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Cloud 2019 Predictions  — India Implications (# AP43922319). So when we hold our flagship Cloud Summits in India in 2020, I look forward to sharing more success stories of Indian enterprises that have taken the next step in their digital transformation journey.

    Posted by Nitin Bawankule, Country Director, Google Cloud, India

    Our ongoing work to tackle hate

    Over the past few years, we’ve been investing in the policies, resources and products needed to live up to our responsibility and protect the YouTube community from harmful content. This work has focused on four pillars: removing violative content, raising up authoritative content, reducing the spread of borderline content and rewarding trusted creators. Thanks to these investments, videos that violate our policies are removed faster than ever and users are seeing less borderline content and harmful misinformation. As we do this, we’re partnering closely with lawmakers and civil society around the globe to limit the spread of violent extremist content online.


    We review our policies on an ongoing basis to make sure we are drawing the line in the right place: in 2018 alone, we made more than 30 policy updates. One of the most complex and constantly evolving areas we deal with is hate speech. We’ve been taking a close look at our approach towards hateful content in consultation with dozens of experts in subjects like violent extremism, supremacism, civil rights, and free speech. Based on those learnings, we are making several updates:


    Removing more hateful and supremacist content from YouTube
    YouTube has always had rules of the road, including a longstanding policy against hate speech. In 2017, we introduced a tougher stance towards videos with supremacist content, including limiting recommendations and features like comments and the ability to share the video. This step dramatically reduced views to these videos (on average 80%). Today, we're taking another step in our hate speech policy by specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status. This would include, for example, videos that promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory. Finally, we will remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place.


    We recognize some of this content has value to researchers and NGOs looking to understand hate in order to combat it, and we are exploring options to make it available to them in the future. And as always, context matters, so some videos could remain up because they discuss topics like pending legislation, aim to condemn or expose hate, or provide analysis of current events. We will begin enforcing this updated policy today, however it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up and we’ll be gradually expanding coverage over the next several months.


    Reducing borderline content and raising up authoritative voices
    In addition to removing videos that violate our policies, we also want to reduce the spread of content that comes right up to the line. In January, we piloted an update of our systems in the U.S. to limit recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation, such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, or claiming the earth is flat. We’re looking to bring this updated system to more countries by the end of 2019. Thanks to this change, the number of views this type of content gets from recommendations has dropped by over 50% in the U.S. Our systems are also getting smarter about what types of videos should get this treatment, and we’ll be able to apply it to even more borderline videos moving forward. As we do this, we’ll also start raising up more authoritative content in recommendations, building on the changes we made to news last year. For example, if a user is watching a video that comes close to violating our policies, our systems may include more videos from authoritative sources (like top news channels) in the "watch next" panel.


    Continuing to reward trusted creators and enforce our monetization policies


    Finally, it’s critical that our monetization systems reward trusted creators who add value to YouTube. We have longstanding advertiser-friendly guidelines that prohibit ads from running on videos that include hateful content and we enforce these rigorously. And in order to protect our ecosystem of creators, advertisers and viewers, we tightened our advertising criteria in 2017. In the case of hate speech, we are strengthening enforcement of our existing YouTube Partner Program policies. Channels that repeatedly brush up against our hate speech policies will be suspended from the YouTube Partner program, meaning they can’t run ads on their channel or use other monetization features like SuperChat.


    The openness of YouTube’s platform has helped creativity and access to information thrive. It’s our responsibility to protect that, and prevent our platform from being used to incite hatred, harassment, discrimination and violence. We are committed to taking the steps needed to live up to this responsibility today, tomorrow and in the years to come.


    -- The YouTube Team

    Google Search and the Assistant help you stay on top of the ICC Cricket World Cup action

    https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3lUODl0kE_250hnO0twrLSbm1USv5rBhhgZRwW-HAb_s-W-uiRaviq_kh8e-zEvtvCx5CsrK5HdMXTa1b-3hVKopOmMjo_b4JTaMB1QJqYEU6mYA-r9HrbWJkJBU3motb0io-1r6 N/A N/A N/A
    Over the next month and a half, cricket fans across the country will be gripped in the fever that is the ICC Cricket World Cup! We’re as excited as you are, and have been working on many features that will be lighting up across our products to help you get the most out of this exciting sporting season. From Google Search to the Assistant, here’s how you can stay in the know -- and even have a bit of fun.  


    Google Search
    During the cricketing action, you can explore the tournament table, stats, and upcoming matches right in Google Search. Just search for “ICC Cricket World Cup” in English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, or Urdu to get started.




    Get in on the action with your favorite team—for instance search for “India cricket team”—to read up on the latest news, view squads, lineups, and even dive into winning probabilities, which will continuously update before and during the game.


    If you can’t watch a live match, Search can help you stay on top of the game. You can view short video clips highlighting exciting moments, and read through live commentary in English and Hindi. If you’re following a team or all matches in the World Cup, you’ll also see game notifications appear on your home screen to make sure you don’t drop the ball.


    To keep track of all the matches, you also can pin real-time scores on your Android phone screen from Search on mobile browsers or from the Android Google App. Find the match you’re looking for, then tap and drag to pin the match anywhere on your screen.




    After each match, you can dive into summaries including player of the match, top performers and key moments. Within an hour after a game ends, you’ll find video recaps from select broadcasting partners featuring highlights of major match moments.



    Google Assistant and Google Home

    To make sure you never miss a game, try asking your Assistant, “Hey Google, when does India play next?” And while you’re watching your favorite team hit another six or rip through the opposing top order, you can ask your Assistant for interesting stats about your favorite player or team -- like how many career runs a player has, or who the player of a specific match was. You can even get up-to-date stats by asking, "Hey Google, what are the current Cricket standings?" This also works in Google Search.




    Highlights, live audio, behind-the-scenes and more from YouTube


    On YouTube you can get highlights to every game on the official ICC channel. And top teams like India and Australia will take you behind the scenes with the players on their YouTube channels.    


    Now that you have everything you need to stay informed during the ICC Cricket World Cup, it’s time to pick up your bat and ball and dive into the action!

    YouTube NextUp is back in India with 3 special editions for the very first time

    https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2YA_Hvb_KSrSu_0wjKCj20Njah_owLBoq4t8XgG1MMnfKPdHqQi4qZ8kj1xe3rWdFXITIoALC6LoxNsscgjCOC-PaYtPG4R2439weTmjdV0y3fv3XIFalMbzeZXQST-6nq81nas4 Marc Lefkowitz Head of YouTube Creator and Artist Development APAC YouTube
    YouTube's mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. To ensure that our platform reflects our values, we have a number of initiatives that amplify the voices of various groups and promote inclusivity. Central to YouTube’s mission is helping creators be discovered, build a business and succeed on our platform, and this is why NextUp exists.


    We are back with our 4th edition in India! We are now bigger than ever before.


    Looking at the amazing response from our creator and artist community, we are bringing three new editions this year -- NextUp for Artists, NextUp Women To Watch and NextUp for Gamers.


    In the previous editions, YouTube helped discover talent from across the country -- be it your favorite Marathi entertainers, sports enthusiasts or your own gardening buddy, and has successfully contributed to the success of over 50 Indian creators. We have been supporting and inspiring the creator and artist community from across the country, with language, genre, and gender being no bar.

    So who’s NextUp? And whats special in 2019?


    We’re looking for passionate and motivated YouTube creators and artists who are ready to create more compelling stories with better production skills; those who are seeking mentorship from production and channel development experts, and eager participants looking for an opportunity to collaborate with talented creators and be a part of the global NextUp community. The 3 contests launching this June are as follows:


    NextUp for Artists [Open and Accepting Entries]: Whether you are passionate about creating music videos to accompany your original songs, or are committed to showing your fans the “behind the scenes” moments of your career as a musician, YouTube is committed to supporting you at every step of your artist journey. In our endeavour to hone the next generation of artists, we will be bringing YouTube NextUp for Artists to Mumbai in August this year!


    NextUp Women To Watch [Stay Tuned, Contest Opening soon]: Join us for our first-ever Women to Watch edition of NextUp in India, to enable and empower female creators and their audience. Are you like Larissa D’sa (Class of 2017), who started out as a beauty creator and has branched out to travel &  lifestyle? Or maybe you love making people laugh, like Wonder Munna (Class of 2018) does, in her Bengali comedy sketches. We want to hear your unique voice and share your story with the world to inspire the next generation of women on YouTube. NextUp Women To Watch coming soon to Delhi!


    NextUp for Gamers [Stay Tuned, Contest Opening soon]:  Have you been scoring those Chicken Dinners or finding those hidden drop locations like Gattu? Or making your viewers cheer and laugh while you stream like Dynamo Gaming? If yes, the exclusive YouTube NextUp for Gamers is here to support your Gaming journey on YouTube! For its very first iteration in India, NextUp for Gamers will be hosted in Chennai.


    *We welcome entries from all over India for all contests.


    Want more reasons to Apply? Hear directly from our Alumni
    “Meeting my fellow NextUp creators for the first time I felt that I have a sense of belonging. We’re all going through the same process”  - Tanya Khanijow, NextUp Winner 2018


    “NextUp taught me how to collaborate with other creators, learn from their creative process and how they approach their YouTube channel” - Sejal Kumar, NextUp Winner 2016


    “I always wanted to achieve good video production skills. NextUp taught me a lot of other things such as, story-telling, cinematography and light setup” - Rishhsome, NextUp Winner 2017


    Excited? So are we! So here’s how you can apply:
    1. Visit the NextUp website at youtube.com/nextup to check Eligibility Requirements and Contest Rules, for each of these contests.
    2. If you meet the criteria, go ahead and apply! 


    *Please note: NextUp for Artists is open and accepting entries, while NextUp Women to Watch & NextUp for Gamers will be live very soon, keep a check on YouTube.com/nextup for updates.


    We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

    Posted by Marc Lefkowitz, Head of YouTube Creator and Artist Development, APAC

    Stay informed about local bus and long-distance train schedules, now on Google Maps

    https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zvHioNrFyqyMvE_Nso9DDiPkRsvSC4K_uLdUsoEiigp6MAIGaVGrqhYv5iCs1-nT_mfWHq6jxd7sKAJFwbr0N0mawPVVkf0fEhe5W_EZpEzhIeGqpoy7IhPiK_YOlHdut8922tDV Taylah Hasaballah Product Manager Google Maps
    From a college student hopping onto a bus, to a family on vacation boarding a train journey to the serene beaches of Goa, public transport is the lifeblood of millions of Indians. And Google Maps is being used by over a billion travelers to navigate and explore their world, wherever they are. Beyond providing the ability to simply navigate between places, we have focused on building India-first features for Google Maps, to deliver a more relevant, accurate, and reliable experience.
    Today we are happy to announce three more features to Google Maps in India, to make public transport  journeys more efficient and seamless: Bus travel times from live traffic in 10 of the largest cities in India, live train status for Indian Railways trains, and mixed-mode commute suggestions that now combine auto-rickshaw and public transport.


    Simplifying travel on public transport buses
    Google Maps can now tell you about your bus travel times based on live traffic. This uses the power of Google’s live traffic data and public bus schedules to calculate delays and provide accurate travel times. This is the first product of its kind -- launching first in India -- enabling you to know how long your bus trip will take when factoring in live traffic conditions. This feature is launching in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore, and Surat.




    To use this feature, enter your starting location and destination, then tap the transit tab. The results for bus travel times from live traffic will include the time in green (when running on time) or red (when delayed.)


    Real-time train information for long-distance trains
    Google Maps can now help you know when your train will arrive by indicating the real-time status. Search for your starting location and destination, or your starting station and destination to see a list of trains that you can take between the routes. From there, you can easily see the real-time status, and whether any of them are delayed, right inside Google Maps. This feature was developed in partnership with the Where is My Train app that Google acquired last year.


    Mixed-mode directions results that include auto-rickshaws
    We’re excited to announce directions support in Maps for journeys that combine auto-rickshaw and public transport. The public transport tab on Google Maps for Android will now tell you when taking such a journey is a good option, how long it will take, which station you should take an auto-rickshaw to/from. You can also see the rickshaw meter estimate, and departure times for your transit connection. This feature will be available for Delhi and Bangalore initially and will soon be extended to more cities.



    Posted by Taylah Hasaballah, Product Manager, Google Maps