Mumbai, April 23: In order to ease the free flow of traffic and make commuting better in Mumbai, Google Maps has collaborated with the world's richest civic body in order to provide citizens with the latest updates on road closures or diversions in the city.

At present, several works including road repairs, stormwater drain improvements, footpath improvement, and repairs of bridges among others are going on across the city that has led to the closure or diversion of several roads. Mumbai Rains 2022: Central Railway To Demolish 150-Year-Old British-Era Carnac Bridge Before Monsoon Season.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the initiative by Google maps and BMC will help commuters to save time and plan their journey accordingly. With the new initiative, citizens will now have access to updates on road closures in the city and the availability of alternate routes on Google Maps.

Officials from the civic body said that the pilot project conducted on this was successful. According to sources, the BMC will collect information on the ongoing works across the city and share it with Google Maps. Post which, the updated information on road closures, etc. will be visible on Google maps within 24-hours.

In a statement issued on Friday the civic body said, "With several infrastructure development projects being carried out across Mumbai, and with citizen-centric approach, BMC's Information Technology department felt it was important to facilitate a seamless platform for its various teams at wards and departments such as roads, sewerage, stormwater drain, etc. so that they can update the latest information on Google Maps itself. This will help in getting almost near real-time, and in easy and accurate updates."

"Google Maps are accordingly updated within a few minutes once information is shared from our designated Single Point Of Contact (SPOC)," an official from the IT department said. Mumbai Rains 2022: Mumbai To Witness High Tide on 22 Days This Monsoon Season; BMC Identifies 72 Spots As Landslide-Prone Areas.

Officials also said that starting next week, all teams across the civic body will share the required updates. Interestingly, the map will also show relevant details such as the reason for temporary road closure or diversion, the expected duration, etc.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2022 12:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).