(Image source from: DNA India)
Google-owned "Neighbourly" app, which assists users with local information like nearby parks, shopping arcades, fitness, food and tuition centers is now rolling out to Indian cities such as Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Mysore, Vizag, and Kota.
The beta version of "Neighbourly" is available on the Google Play Store for all Android devices across these seven cities in India.
"With 'Neighbourly', we are able to address the local information needs of India's fast-growing internet users in their neighborhood," Josh Woodward, Group Product Manager, Next Billion Users team, Google, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The latest version of the application as well comes with three new updates. First, is enhanced voice input with better controls so users can ask and respond to questions in their spoken language.
The other feature is quick replies using which, when a question is asked, and the user wants to clarify something about an answer, it can be done using the inline reply feature.
The third new feature is similar answers that would detect and group similar answers.
"The app was first rolled out to Mumbai and Jaipur and 20 percent of people tap to speak their question and each question, spoken or written, gets an average of four relevant, trusted answers," Google said.
"During the last three months, we've been excited to see how neighborhoods, big and small, are using the app across Mumbai and Jaipur. From what we've seen, neighbors from different backgrounds and ages are eager to help each other by answering questions. In fact, some of our "Top Neighbors" answer over 100 questions per week," the company said in a statement.
The launch took place after the company's extensive user testing in the past several months, where Google's "Next Billion Users" team conducted a series of studies and spoke to locals in neighborhoods.
"The response was encouraging - especially among women, students, and daily commuters - and people appreciated using their local language to ask questions to their neighbors and sharing their own knowledge with others," the firm added.
By Sowmya Sangam
