Fig. 119: Ministers’ remarks

centres on Google. It leveraged COWIN APIs to provide real-time data on vaccine and appointment availability, dosages offered, pricing, booking information, etc. It enabled the information to showcase across multiple products, i.e., Search, Maps and Google Assistant, and support queries in multiple languages. Use of Geospatial Technologies

Google’s primary goal throughout this effort was to assist the government authorities with COVID-19 response efforts and help millions of Indians find food & night shelters, and testing & vaccination centres seamlessly. It utilized its proprietary geospatial technology to:

y Assist government authorities in accurately capturing the geospatial information (latitude & longitude) y Verify and ingest a huge amount of data quickly, using advanced geospatial tools/processes y Add useful relevant attributes to the location information (timings, guidelines, private vs government, etc.) y Make the geospatial data easily accessible through multiple Google products and in different languages Key Outputs

y With the continuous support of MoHFW, MoIT, ICMR, MyGov, state government, and hundreds of Googlers and volunteers, Google was able to quickly launch the COVID-19 support features. Throughout the effort, Google-

Æ Mapped ~11,500 food & night shelters across 700+ cities in three weeks

Æ Mapped 3,600+ COVID-19 testing centres across 500+ cities

Æ Mapped 60,000+ vaccination centres, of which 30,000 centres shared real-time information on vaccine and appointment availability

Æ Provided information about shelters, testing & vaccination centres on three Google products (Google Search, Google Assistant, Google Maps) in eight Indian languages beyond English. Outcomes Achieved and Linkage to SDGs

Google’s agility in partnering with the government and executing the COVID-19 feature updates had a significant impact on the community. Over the coming months, it received-

y Hundreds of thousands of daily searches from affected people looking for food & night shelters y More than a million users using Google products to find information on testing & vaccination centres y Strong appreciation and acknowledgement from central and state governments which further spread awareness about the features across the country.

Fig. 119: Ministers’ remarks

Name of Contact Person: Designation: Organization Name: Email: Telephone:

Ujjwala Jeremiah

Manager, Government Affairs & Public Policy Google India ujeremiah@google.com +91 (91549) 52422 Alignment with the IGIF Strategic Pathways

S.no IGIF Strategic pathway Remarks

SP4 Data

SP5 Innovation

SP7 Partnerships This is a good example of utilizing proprietary geospatial technology for acquiring and managing data and delivering data-based services that assist government authorities in providing mission-critical citizen services. It also highlights various data supply chain interlinkages used for the purpose of delivering multiple products and supporting queries in multiple languages. Due to India’s large population and varied demography, the problems it faced during the peak COVID-19 emergency were unique. Process Innovation and creativity enabled Google to provide information about shelters, testing & vaccination centres in eight Indian languages beyond English, setting an example of bridging the digital divide. This case is a good example of industry partnership and establishing cross-sectoral interdisciplinary partnerships for data curation and service delivery.