In the competitive world of ride-hailing, regional players often face off against national aggregators with massive budgets. For Red Taxi, a service that has operated for 13 years in Tamil Nadu, India, the secret to success comes down to an unwavering commitment to service quality. From its humble beginnings with just 30 cabs in Coimbatore, Red Taxi has grown into a fleet of 15,000 vehicles serving 50,000 rides a day across 17 cities. Here is how Red Taxi partnered with the G

Historically, extracting automated insights from street-level imagery, such as auditing infrastructure integrity, reading localised parking signs, or detecting specific hardware attachments, required training highly specialised and bespoke computer vision models. Today, the distance between raw, unstructured street-level imagery and highly structured spatial intelligence is closing rapidly. By combining the vast coverage of Google Maps Platform data, like Street View Insights

As populations shift and public transit options fluctuate, a growing challenge is emerging in rural and suburban areas known as transportation deserts. In Japan, a rapidly ageing society and declining birthrate have brought this crisis into sharp focus. With traditional bus routes being reduced and elderly residents surrendering their driver's licenses, the need for accessible, reliable everyday transport has become an urgent priority. Enter Community Mobility Inc., a joint v

Read how Google Earth's AI data layers are changing the game for South African logistics teams.

Google DeepMind is expanding Project Genie, an experimental AI prototype capable of generating interactive virtual environments. With its latest update, Genie can now connect its generative world-building capabilities with real-world imagery from Google Street View. This means users can create imaginative, explorable worlds anchored in real places. For businesses, this update points to an important shift. AI is moving beyond text and images into interactive, location-aware en

Travel planning can involve a lot of moving parts. Flights, hotels, restaurants, local shops, language barriers, routes and airport updates all need to come together at the right time. Google’s latest travel tools are designed to make that easier. By combining Search, Maps, AI, Translate and Wallet, Google helps travellers plan trips, find better deals and explore new places with more confidence. For businesses, these updates also show the value of smart digital experiences.

Twenty years ago this June, a modest gathering of 100 geodevelopers on Google's campus laid the groundwork for what is now Google I/O. Today, the developer conversation has evolved from basic digital mapping to a complete convergence of artificial intelligence and physical reality. By bridging the gap between large language models and the physical world, Google is providing developers with tools to anchor AI responses in verified facts. This shift marks a major milestone for

For decades, digital maps were just passive tools used to find a blue dot or plot a route. But after the Google Maps Community Day in NYC, it is clear that era is over.

Opening a new business location is a major commitment, yet many people still rely on old-school research methods to guide their decisions. To beat your competitors to prime real estate, you need a modern approach. Enter Places Insights in BigQuery. With this powerful tool, your team can choose winning business locations that drive sales and accelerate growth. Let’s take a look at how it works. Why Your Business Should Ditch the Manual Research If you’re using static maps

From planning major infrastructure to assessing the impact of natural disasters, businesses and urban planners rely on robust mapping tools to understand the real world. Today, those capabilities are expanding significantly. Google has introduced three powerful AI updates to its imagery products, helping organisations visualise and analyse geospatial information faster than ever before. Here is a look at the new tools transforming how we build with real-world data. Grounding

To move beyond simple chat interfaces, AI agents require two foundational layers to be truly effective. First, they need a grounding truth layer to anchor their reasoning in the physical world. Second, they require a visual interface to communicate that information through an intuitive, interactive experience. At Cloud Next, Google announced a new portfolio that provides a dedicated geospatial intelligence layer. Here is a look at the tools helping you turn complex AI text in

Understanding the complex relationship between human behaviour and the physical world is critical for modern organisations. However, relying on static maps and decade-old census snapshots is no longer sufficient. At Cloud Next, Google introduced the Preview of Population Dynamics Insights (PDI), a new Google Earth AI dataset available via Google Maps Platform. Powered by Google Research's Population Dynamics Foundation Model, PDI is a first-of-its-kind geospatial embeddings d

When people think of a hackathon, they often picture teams racing to build something new from scratch. At 28East, our latest internal hackathon took a different approach. Instead of building a new app, our development team worked through a set of bugs deliberately introduced into one of our existing codebases. The goal was simple: sharpen technical skills, share knowledge across the team, and improve how we identify and solve issues in the systems we build and maintain. A Pr

The last mile can be an absolute game-changer for your business in today’s fast-paced environment. Businesses need a little assistance to overcome logistics challenges head-on; if not managed effectively, this can result in delays and inefficiencies, reducing costs and increasing overall customer dissatisfaction. So how can we streamline this crucial step? Well, let’s explore the latest Google Maps innovations that will boost delivery efficiency and drive your business opera

For over two decades, Google Earth has been a window to our world, allowing millions to explore the planet from above. However, today's global challenges demand more than just exploration; they demand action. In 2026, Google is hitting the accelerator, transforming Google Earth into an advanced geospatial platform built specifically for professionals. Here is a look at the core shifts driving the platform's future. Iconic Imagery Meets Professional-Grade Data The foundation o

High-stakes projects rely on high-quality location data, but getting the context you need shouldn't feel like a scavenger hunt. Historically, answering spatial questions meant hunting down disparate datasets, wrestling with formatting, toggling between tools, and trying to paint a complete picture. To help you spend more time making decisions and less time wrangling data, Google Earth has announced massive improvements: global coverage of data layers, native Earth Engine rast

Managing massive infrastructure networks has historically relied on costly, time-consuming field surveys. But what if you could remotely inventory and monitor assets at scale, straight from your desk? Google Maps Platform has officially made Street View Insights Generally Available, a powerful dataset designed to help organisations automate asset management and shift from reactive to proactive maintenance. Unlocking the Power of Street View Insights Street View Insights taps

Buying a home is often cited as one of life’s most stressful experiences, especially when moving to an unfamiliar area. With nearly half of today's buyers willing to consider purchasing a property without seeing it in person, the demand for robust, digital-first real estate platforms is at an all-time high. Realtor.com is meeting this challenge head-on, leveraging Google Maps Platform to provide buyers with total confidence in a 'sight unseen' market. Bringing Listings to Li

Local knowledge is the lifeblood of Google Maps. With over 500 million contributors globally, authentic photos, reviews, and videos play a massive role in helping users navigate their world and confidently decide where to go. To make it even easier for this community to share their perspectives, Google Maps has rolled out three exciting new updates. 1. Quickly Find and Share Your Favourite Moments Photos and videos are essential for giving users a true sense of a location, wh

For South African Internet Service Providers (ISPs), expanding network coverage is a strategic necessity. Whether you are targeting local underserved areas or looking northward into the broader African market, stepping into new territories means the familiar landscape vanishes. The biggest disadvantage is not a lack of capital; it is a lack of visibility. Without direct access to established fibre maps in neighbouring countries, South African ISPs often fly blind. This leads