The document discusses the limitations of Google Maps in locating specific addresses, particularly in areas where locations are not well-documented or have undergone name changes. It presents examples of difficulties in finding personal and professional addresses, highlighting a potential solution of creating and sharing local mini maps to aid navigation. Benefits of this solution include offline access, ease of sharing, time savings, and customization for less-known locations.

1. A way when
Google map
cannot find
any...
By:
Dhawal Singhal
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2. 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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3. 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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4. An Actual Map
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5. 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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6. The black dot shows the approximate location of my
house.
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7. 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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8. 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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9. 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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10. Share Prices on Google!
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11. 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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13. 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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15. On Google Maps, the search “Porrits &
Spencer (Asia) Limited” correctly shows the
company location in Faridabad, Haryana,
India.
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17. 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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18. 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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19. Terrain view
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20. 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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21. 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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22. 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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23. Now having this system and these maps will
have several advantages few of which are
mentioned in the next slide.
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24. 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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25.  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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26. 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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