Google has added panoramic views of 31 monuments and Indian archaeological sites on Google Maps and the Google Cultural Institute, the company said in its blog. The technology giant said that it had been working with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) since last year and had added 76 monuments with 360-degree views.

The new additions include the Gateway of India, the Sun temple at Konark, The Mysore Palace, the Nalanda University and the Thanjavur temple.Apart from the ASI, Google will be partnering with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Karnataka Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation to add more monuments.

It’s worth noting that the ASI has launched a national portal for museums. Collections in all museums under its control and those under the ASI will be digitized and presented on this portal.Currently, over 11,000 digitized artifacts from 10 museums, namely Indian Museum, Kolkata, Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, National Museum, New Delhi, Allahabad Museum, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru, Archaeological Museum, Nagarjunakonda, and Archaeological Museum, Goa, are on display on the portal.

The ASI, Delhi circle also released an app last year which we weren’t too impressed with at all. But hopefully they’ve got something better ahead.

Street View in India

Google had initially extended its Street View project to India in May 2011, with the pilot project in Bangalore. A month later, Google was forced to stop collecting Street View data after receiving a letter from the Commissioner of Police.

In April 2013 the Survey of India (SOI) filed a complaint against Google India for its Google Mapathon competition held between Feb-March 2013. In this contest participants are asked to map their locality. Apparently certain sensitive defence installations had also been mapped. At present the case is being investigated by the CBI’s cyber security cell.

Google also had a trial run of its Business Photos initiative of May 2012 where 360-degree pictures of business location interiors were uploaded with the permission of business owners to offer interactive virtual tours to its potential customers. The initiative wasofficially launched in February 2013 in 8 cities with plans to extend to another 20 cities.

In September 2013, Google partnered with Sula’s Vineyard Resort to add 360 degree imagery of the resort, as a first Street View of private properties.