Maps can make a real difference in protecting property rights: Lalitesh Katragadda

Lalitesh Katragadda was a pioneer in online maps in India: he found a way to use satellite imagery to map geographies while he was the CEO of Google India. The Mapmaker, created by his team and helped along by altruistic users across the country who participated in the process of making maps, was adopted by various emerging markets as a viable alternative to established and expensive ways of creating maps. Katragadda discusses the potential for maps. Edited excerpts:

Is it possible for anyone to compete with Google Maps?
It will always be possible to compete. The key is you have to build a better product and then you have to keep it free like Google Maps. The focus at Google is always to create a product that is useful for people and then find use cases around it or build revenue streams around it later.


How do you see the potential for maps as a platform in India?
What maps are able to do now — navigation and search — is something that benefits only a very small part of our population, the ones that are able to travel in cars or motorbikes. The question is how do maps make an impact on a larger section of our population. I see a strong application of maps in mapping every plot of land across India and ensuring and protecting property rights and, in fact, creating a dematerialised property document like in the US.

Are you involved in any project on this?
I think the NITI Ayog led by Amitabh Kant has taken this up. Also, I am working with the Tata Trusts to publish a white paper on this subject.