Improve access to services, civic chief writes to Sundar Pichai

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to collaborate with the technology giant Google for information sharing and streamlining access to civic services

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to collaborate with the technology giant Google for information sharing and streamlining access to civic services in the city.

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Municipal commissioner, Praveen Pardeshi, wrote to Google LLC’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, on Wednesday, for the company’s help to sync information about civic amenities, administrative ward boundaries with directions to concerned ward head-offices, with Google Maps. “We wrote to Sundar Pichai on Wednesday morning, and are hoping that will accelerate the tie-up. We had earlier had a meeting with Google, but things have not been moving decisively since,” said Pardeshi.

The tie-up will include giving real-time updates and locations of BEST buses on the mobile application - BEST Pravas. The civic body also plans to use Google’s crowdsourced information for updating traffic situation and delay in the arrival of a bus.

Pardeshi said, “Our buses are already installed with GPS, which feeds data to the BEST mobile application for users to see where their bus has reached. With Google’s help, we can show that a bus is late because it is stuck in traffic, with an estimated time for the traffic to clear.” All roadblocks and diversions due to civic work such as road repair, stormwater drains or water pipelines repair will also be mapped on Google maps.

BMC wants to overlay Mumbai’s administrative ward boundaries on a tab on Google maps.

When a Google maps user turns on his location, he will be able to see which ward his area falls in, and which is the nearest ward office. All information about the ward, name of the assistant commissioner, and distance of the ward office from the user’s location will be displayed, Pardeshi said.