In late December 2024, we obtained photographic evidence that Google was going to test its new wearable cameras in India, the first country in South Asia to get coverage in this way. Google has previously had difficulties in introducing its street view service in the country, suffering from legal problems with Indian courts over privacy. In 2022, Google India was finally able to get government approval to film the country’s streets, although this had some setbacks, such as the use of poor quality cameras to take images.
Although Google’s efforts to create a portable camera that is easy to transport in different countries has paid off, mapping teams in India now have cameras with much better resolution, allowing them to better capture road signs as well as small text notices. Throughout 2025, it has been noted that Google has added high quality coverage to different cities in India, starting first with Hyderabad and Chennai.
Tamil Nadu
In early March 2025, it was noticed that Google had originally published certain sections of imagery around Chennai using its new handheld cameras, the first time the state would receive high-quality imagery coverage. Much of the imagery was taken between December 2024 and February 2025. Coverage began to expand to several suburbs of the city including photographs of several important sites such as Kalikambal Kamadeswarar Temple (காளிகாம்பாள் கமடேஸ்வரர் கோயில்), Government Museum of Chennai (சென்னை அருங்காட்சியகம்), Santhome Cathedral Basilica (சாந்தோம் பசிலிக்கா), Kalaivanar Arangam (கலைவாணர் அரங்கம்) and Madras High Court (சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றம்).
In June 2025, it began to be reported that Google was gradually uploading more images of other cities in the state including Vellore, Tiruppur, Salem, Nagercoil and Tiruchirappalli with images dating back to May 2025.
Karnataka
Google has a special relationship with Bengaluru, the city is the technology hub of India and of course, the Google Maps team had prioritized the collection of images in the Bengaluru metropolitan area, as the American company has a regional office in Benniganahalli, where it had previously tested different street view images since 2011 where Google originally wanted to capture part of the city using Gen 3 cameras but was canceled for security and privacy reasons. Now more than a decade old, the Google Maps team has started to improve the quality of images of the state.
Unfortunately coverage in Bangalore with good quality cameras is not as widespread as in other cities in India, where coverage is mainly found in Madavara (ಮದವರ), and to make matters worse some sections of Bengaluru were covered with very poor quality cameras in 2025. Hopefully in the future, Google India will start updating much of the city’s imagery using proper cameras.
As of June 2025, it was reported that the Google Maps team had published images in other cities in the state including Mysuru and Kalaburagi, in addition some sections of Mangaluru port were covered for the first time using these portable cameras, including views of the Tannirbavi Tree Park (ತಣ್ಣೀರುಬಾವಿ ಟ್ರೀ ಉದ್ಯಾನವನ) as well as some parts of Hubballi including images of the Shri Banashankari Devi Temple (ಶ್ರೀ ಬನಶಂಕರಿ ಅಮ್ಮನವರ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ)
Telangana
The Hyderabad metropolitan area was the first place where the Google Maps team tested the new portable cameras in India, with part of the coverage dating back to December 2024. This is not surprising, given that Google also has a regional office in the city, specifically in Kondapur, where these cameras began circulating in Hitech City, making it the first place in India to receive this type of imagery. These vehicles began filming much of the metropolitan area, obtaining 360-degree views of historic sites such as Fateh Darwaza (ఫతెహ్ దర్వాజా) and the Masjid Hakeem Mir Wazeer Ali (مسجد حکیم میر وزیر علی), in addition to the Ravindra Bharathi (రవీంద్ర భారతి)
It is worth noting that the Google Maps team also added new views near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Outside Hyderabad, the state saw updates in the Warangal metropolitan area, where Google Street View equipment photographed monuments.
West Bengal
The Gen 4 updates in West Bengal have been distributed mainly in three locations which are Siliguri, Durjapur and Asansol. Interestingly, at the time of publishing this article, the Google Maps team has not yet published imagery around Kolkata, hopefully in the future they will update more parts of the state, as certain areas have very poor quality images, even taken at night.
Andhra Pradesh
Some national highways of Andhra Pradesh were covered with these cameras for the first time in December 2024, mainly roads connecting the state with Chennai, such as the National Highway 42 and National Highway 16. As of June 2025, the Google India team started publishing more imagery in different cities of the state, including Vijayawada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Rajahmundry. The new coverage features images of some of the state’s beaches, such as the Yarada Beach. Additionally, the mapping vehicles in the state filmed part of the roads around the Tirupati International Airport (తిరుపతి విమానాశ్రయం).
Furthermore, local news outlets in the city of Nellore confirmed the sighting of Google Maps vehicles in mid-June 2025 indicating that the American company will greatly expand its coverage of the state.
Uttar Pradesh
At the moment, the Gen 4 coverage is published in two cities in the state, Mathura and Prayagraj, with images dating back to May 2025, although according to social media users, Google Maps vehicles have been spotted in other cities, including Aligarh and Vrindavan.
Odisha
As of early April 2025, it was noted that the state of Odisha had been one of the states that had received coverage using Google’s new cameras, specifically in the Bhubaneswar metropolitan area, where the mapping team had photographed part of the Shikharachandi Hill Forest (ଶିଖରଚଣ୍ଡୀ ପାହାଡି ବନ). The initial coverage of Odisha also featured images in rural areas, including views of the Ananta Narayan Temple (ଅନନ୍ତ ନାରାୟଣ ଟେମ୍ପଲ). Rourkela was the second city in the state to receive proper Gen 4 coverage, where much of the street and suburban photos were updated.
Mahdya Pradesh
The first drop of urban coverage in this state included imagery around the Ujjain and Jabalpur metropolitan areas, much of the imagery dating from May 2025.
Kerala
Much of the state’s coverage given in April 2025, although this is not widespread at the time of writing. New images are available for some national roads connecting Kerala with the rest of India such as the National Highway 66 as well as some small sections in Kochi.
Maharashtra
This state has a particular situation in terms of its updates, where Google India’s mapping team photographed the city of Mumbai and surrounding areas in early 2025, covering new areas in Dombivli and Navi Mumbai. Unfortunately, poor quality cameras were used to cover the metropolitan area. Fortunately, with the subsequent upgrades of Maharashtra, Google India focused on finally switching from third party cameras to officially produced Google cameras and Nagpur became the first city in the state to formally have good quality images.
Google Maps vehicles captured certain cultural and religious sites of Nagpur such as the Sri Jagannath Temple. Subsequently, Amravati would be the second city in the state to receive good quality images in certain sectors. The next batch of updates had good quality images in certain parts of the state including Solapur and finally Nanded.
Chhattisgarh
Bilaspur was the first city in the state to receive proper coverage using the new Google Street View cameras. In addition, Google also released some coverage of rural areas in Chhattisgarh, much of the imagery dating from May 2025.
What’s next for India?
The new Google Street View coverage is gradually being uploaded in different parts of the country. At the moment we have received confirmation that a Google Maps vehicle was spotted driving around Ranchi in Jharkhand, giving us possible hope that it is possibly the next state in India where the Google Maps team is going to focus. At the time of writing this article, the State only has images on National Highway 18, hopefully Google Maps teams will photograph areas surrounding the city as well as other urban centres in Jharkhand.
In early June 2025, local news outlets in the city of Kota in Rajasthan reported that a vehicle with Gen 4 cameras was covering the Aerodrome Circle. This has indicated that Google India is gradually replacing its cameras in various regions of India, as the last update the state received was in February 2025 in Jaipur, where unfortunately, drivers used very poor quality cameras to cover the metropolitan area.
This is a great step for the digitization of streets in India and hopefully in the future new states as well as important areas of the country will be covered again this time using these cameras.
