Google's Street View data can now help analyse infrastructure like roads and utility poles
“Government agencies and businesses will be able to use Street View data to analyse roadways, traffic patterns, and utility poles, starting today. It's all part of a push by Google to combine its maps database with AI and BigQuery to offer real-world insights. The company revealed it is adding support for geospatial analytics in BigQuery, meaning decision-makers can now detect damaged infrastructure.”
This could certainly be useful to utility companies which are focussed on analysing and improving their signage etc.
I remember years ago suggesting to our city's bus service (Golden Arrow Bus Services that is, not MyCiti who already has their routes on Google Maps and their own app) that they consider also putting their routing on Google Maps, as it would be way easier for commuters to use. Their own website was a major mess and there is no easy way of seeing when a bus would stop where, and certainly not where their service intersects with other bus and train routes. Sometimes it is just better to adopt a service that many of your commuters have free and easy access to, and which works across other transit services too.
In fact, Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) in Cape Town is so bad, let me expand on that. Their website is a bunch of loose routes. There is no map even to show where are the routes go, and the search block returns nothing if you put say a suburb name in to just try to narrow down what routes pass through a suburb. There is none of those obvious aids to help you. Sending in suggestions and escalating those made no difference whatsoever.
So yes, I cannot say all utilities and services are actually focussed on making their services better. But providing another useful tool for them is always a good thing.
See
Google Maps now helps cities fix signs and roads
Street View data and AI can now help governments and businesses fix roads, signs, and other infrastructure
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