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Google’s Bangalore ‘Street View’ project halted
Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS

“Since it is a sensitive exercise, we have written to the Google authorities to get permission of the Union Government for filming Bangalore for its Street View project as part of its Maps platform,” Bangalore Additional Commissioner of Police T. Sunil Kumar said here today.

A sample picture of Google’s street view of Ahmedabad

Confirming that its office had received the letter from the police, a Google India spokesperson said it had stopped its cars from filming streets and localities across the city since Monday.

“As we are currently reviewing it (the Street View project), we have stopped our cars from filming until we have a chance to answer any question or concerns the police have,” the spokesperson said.

Google’s Indian subsidiary announced last month that it planned to offer a Street View of Indian cities on its Maps platform, beginning with Bangalore, to supply people with information and data.

Additional Commissioner of Police Sunil Kumar said that written permission of the ministries of Home and external affairs were a must for filming cities like Bangalore.

“Since Bangalore has been on the radar of terrorists and anti-national elements as a high target area, we are concerned about its streets and areas being filmed and made available on Google Maps,” Kumar said, and added that the city police was not against the project per se, or its objective.

Google Maps has already uploaded Street View of about 100 cities in 27 countries across the world with a host of information for the benefit of users seeking specific details. It, however, agreed to consider requests from government and law enforcement agencies to blur or block images of sensitive locations or vital installations for security considerations.