People’s Daily reports:

The Chinese government is to crack down on illegal online map and geographical information websites, claiming they threaten state security, said an official of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on Tuesday.

Eight departments, including the SBSM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security, said they would tighten supervision over online map and geographical information service websites.

Min Yiren, deputy director of the SBSM, said almost 10,000 online map websites operated in China, most of them showing maps without approval.

“Some websites publish sensitive or confidential geographical information, which might leak state secrets and threaten national security,” Min said.

Foreign companies and individuals must submit applications to the central government to engage in map making and are prohibited from publishing online maps.

Particular emphasis has been put on political content in maps, i.e. anything involving Taiwan, islands in the South China Sea, etc., etc.

It will be interesting to see how this affects sites such as Google China’s map service, Google Ditu (地图).

Further reading
China’s state mapping bureau

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