Lalitesh Katragadda, the person after Google Maps,'s picking up where Nandan Nilekani, former Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman, left off. After leaving his great job as Google’s India premier for products in 03 final year, Katragadda's building a national information platform - an exhaustive database of information on the ‘next billion’ people in India.
He's using the exact process as he had for Google Maps. He's set up a main group of engineers to develop this platform, which'll be accessed by users to build a database. Crowd-sourcing of information's also on the cards. “When you talk about an information platform for the next billion, Aadhaar's a very significant tool. However a lot longer can be done to make information longer useful & powerful, for everyone,” Katragadda says. “Aadhaar's the enabling infrastructure, & the government's looking at other tools as well. However there's a need to build a longer enabling infrastructure.” “Today, all that people like, say, slum-dwellers have for identity's a little Aadhaar slip or a voters’ card. How about an information system that lets you know who these people're & track what they do? This might even solve the problem of finding a dutiful maid or a trustworthy driver,” he added. Trust comes through validation or authentication by longer people, almost the exact way as the Google Mapmaker works. “Everything in Mapmaker's drawn & authenticated by few people & machines.” Katragadda, an ex-student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, & a doctor of philosophy (Robotics) from CarnegieMellonUniversity,'s acknowledged with developing Google Mapmaker, a tool that consequently led to the creation of Google Maps. He had became a member of Google in 2002, while a robotics start-up he instituted in San Francisco's purchased by the search giant. Subsequently, he shifted to India to set up Google’s India operations, the foremost global engineering center for the Mountain View, California-headquartered company. Katragadda, who's also advising the central & Andhra Pradesh governments on redesigning the fibre grids to make high-bandwidth internet available to all at affordable prices, says an information platform like the one he's building can have a transformative impact. What he's trying to build, he says,'s a transformative project like Aadhaar, even if not as stupendous. Aadhaar, he suggests, could succeed to an extent because it's backed by the government machinery, with fixed a money & manpower. “It’s a stupendous task if an organisation does it. It’s a straightforward task if people do it.” He, however, agrees there're few risks in his project, too, as he's looking to establish digital footprint for those not used to using information technology, not even for entertainment. Many of them do not even know how to send a mobile text message. “Mapmaker's successful because of participation from educated people, who were already were internet savvy. This platform's participants who're not familiar with technology. So, there's another level of risk,” he said. Katragadda's currently in the method of including a firm that'll consequently leave for outside finance as the process progresses. However, he would be careful when bringing in investors. “There's a lot of fascination but I desire to be careful & gather finance at the appropriate time. The instant you gather investment, you're accountable for returns. Information systems like these, specially for the next billion,'ll gather more to mature,” he added. Man after the map Lalitesh Katragadda, an ex-student of IIT-Bombay & a PhD in Robotics from the Carnegie Mellon University,'s acknowledged with developing Google Mapmaker, a tool that consequently led to the creation of Google Maps Katragadda became a member of Google in 2002, while a robotics start-up he had instituted in San Francisco's purchased by the search giant Later, he shifted to India to set up Google’s India operations, the foremost global engineering center for the Mountain View, California-headquartered firm
He's using the exact process as he had for Google Maps. He's set up a main group of engineers to develop this platform, which'll be accessed by users to build a database. Crowd-sourcing of information's also on the cards. “When you talk about an information platform for the next billion, Aadhaar's a very significant tool. However a lot longer can be done to make information longer useful & powerful, for everyone,” Katragadda says. “Aadhaar's the enabling infrastructure, & the government's looking at other tools as well. However there's a need to build a longer enabling infrastructure.” “Today, all that people like, say, slum-dwellers have for identity's a little Aadhaar slip or a voters’ card. How about an information system that lets you know who these people're & track what they do? This might even solve the problem of finding a dutiful maid or a trustworthy driver,” he added. Trust comes through validation or authentication by longer people, almost the exact way as the Google Mapmaker works. “Everything in Mapmaker's drawn & authenticated by few people & machines.” Katragadda, an ex-student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, & a doctor of philosophy (Robotics) from CarnegieMellonUniversity,'s acknowledged with developing Google Mapmaker, a tool that consequently led to the creation of Google Maps. He had became a member of Google in 2002, while a robotics start-up he instituted in San Francisco's purchased by the search giant. Subsequently, he shifted to India to set up Google’s India operations, the foremost global engineering center for the Mountain View, California-headquartered company. Katragadda, who's also advising the central & Andhra Pradesh governments on redesigning the fibre grids to make high-bandwidth internet available to all at affordable prices, says an information platform like the one he's building can have a transformative impact. What he's trying to build, he says,'s a transformative project like Aadhaar, even if not as stupendous. Aadhaar, he suggests, could succeed to an extent because it's backed by the government machinery, with fixed a money & manpower. “It’s a stupendous task if an organisation does it. It’s a straightforward task if people do it.” He, however, agrees there're few risks in his project, too, as he's looking to establish digital footprint for those not used to using information technology, not even for entertainment. Many of them do not even know how to send a mobile text message. “Mapmaker's successful because of participation from educated people, who were already were internet savvy. This platform's participants who're not familiar with technology. So, there's another level of risk,” he said. Katragadda's currently in the method of including a firm that'll consequently leave for outside finance as the process progresses. However, he would be careful when bringing in investors. “There's a lot of fascination but I desire to be careful & gather finance at the appropriate time. The instant you gather investment, you're accountable for returns. Information systems like these, specially for the next billion,'ll gather more to mature,” he added. Man after the map Lalitesh Katragadda, an ex-student of IIT-Bombay & a PhD in Robotics from the Carnegie Mellon University,'s acknowledged with developing Google Mapmaker, a tool that consequently led to the creation of Google Maps Katragadda became a member of Google in 2002, while a robotics start-up he had instituted in San Francisco's purchased by the search giant Later, he shifted to India to set up Google’s India operations, the foremost global engineering center for the Mountain View, California-headquartered firm
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