How Google Maps fixed India's street name problem

Summary

When Google Maps expanded into India in 2008, its reliance on street names made directions unreliable. Many streets had no names or were known by multiple names, and phone GPS was not yet accurate enough to compensate. Street-name-based navigation was also a poor fit in some other places, where people instead used blocks or other local conventions.

Google UX researcher Olga and UX designer Janet investigated how people in India navigated. Their hands-on research included calling businesses for directions, asking people to sketch familiar routes, and observing people navigating unfamiliar places.

They identified four useful elements of landmark-based directions:

1. Orientation: A general cue about where to head.
2. Turn description: A recognizable landmark near a turn.
3. Confirmation: A landmark that reassures the traveler they are on the right path.
4. Error correction: A cue that indicates the traveler has gone too far.

Google incorporated these cues into Maps directions, adding “pass by” landmarks and using road names subtly when available. The video says these extra landmark instructions appear in places such as India, while directions in the United States tend to rely more on street names and address numbers.

The broader lesson is that localization requires understanding how users actually navigate and what workarounds they already use. The example also shows that useful user research need not require elaborate equipment or long studies: direct, scrappy fieldwork can reveal needs that lead to a better-tailored product.

Main Speakers and Sources

• Narrator: Phoebe Yu, associated with the video’s channel.
• People featured in the story: Olga, a UX researcher, and Janet, a UX designer at Google.
• Source credited in the subtitles: Elizabeth Lori, described as a former Google Maps UX design lead.