Seoul weighs approval for Google, Apple high-resolution map requests

South Korea is nearing a choice on whether or not to permit Google and Apple to export high-resolution geographic map information to servers outdoors the nation. The detailed maps, which use a 1:5,000 scale, would present streets, buildings, and alleyways in far better element than at present obtainable on these platforms. Nonetheless, a number of regulatory and safety hurdles stay unresolved.

Earlier this week, South Korea’s Nationwide Meeting Protection Committee held a parliamentary audit of Google Korea. Lawmakers questioned the corporate’s requests for native map information, elevating considerations over nationwide safety and digital sovereignty. The session comes two months after Seoul postponed its choice on Google’s request to export high-resolution map information in August, following an earlier delay in May.

A policymaker has warned that Google’s satellite tv for pc maps might endanger nationwide safety by exposing delicate army websites when mixed with industrial imagery and on-line information. The lawmaker is urging the federal government to realize authority to observe and regulate the export of high-resolution geographic data. Provided that South Korea stays technically at struggle with North Korea, the federal government is cautious about exposing such places.

The federal government’s remaining choice on Google Maps is anticipated round November 11, or probably even earlier, a South Korean authorities official advised TechCrunch. Final month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport introduced it could prolong the evaluation interval by an extra 60 days.

In February, Google requested, for the third time in South Korea, permission from the Korean National Geographic Information Institute to make use of a 1:5,000 scale map, which gives a lot better particulars, in its app and to switch the map information to servers outdoors of South Korea. Presently, Google uses a 1:25,000 scale map that features factors of curiosity and satellite tv for pc imagery. Native navigation apps resembling Naver Map, T Map, and Kakao Map are the preferred amongst native customers. These apps supply map information at a scale of 1:5,000, and due to this fact, far more data and element, giving them a major aggressive benefit.

In 2011 and once more in 2016, South Korean authorities turned down Google’s request for entry to the nation’s map information. Officers made clear that approval would hinge on the corporate opening a neighborhood information heart and obscuring delicate places, together with nationwide safety websites, citing safety considerations. Google declined to satisfy these circumstances.

After South Korea rejected approval in August, Google reportedly agreed to obscure the places of the nation’s safety websites on Google Maps and Google Earth. The corporate is blurring delicate installations to handle authorities considerations over satellite tv for pc imagery and is reportedly exploring the acquisition of government-approved satellite tv for pc information from native suppliers, together with T Map.

Google didn’t instantly reply to a TechCrunch request for remark.

Underneath South Korea’s Geospatial Information Management Act (Article 16), authorities survey information — resembling maps and satellite tv for pc pictures — can’t be despatched overseas with out approval from the complete Cupboard. Handed within the Nineteen Seventies, the regulation continues to underpin the nation’s strict management over geospatial information.

Map information has develop into a delicate nationwide safety concern in battle zones worldwide. The Israeli military asked Google Maps to turn off real-time visitors information in Israel and Gaza in 2023, simply because it did in Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion. And in 2009, European regulators had urged Google to delete authentic Road View pictures over privateness considerations.

Apple follows Google in searching for South Korea map information

It’s not simply Google making strikes. Apple additionally requested in June to export high-resolution map information from South Korea at a 1:5,000 scale. That got here after its preliminary request in 2023 was turned down.

Whereas Google retains its map servers outdoors Korea, Apple operates native servers, a distinction the federal government weighs when reviewing requests. Native servers permit authorities to reply swiftly to safety considerations at delicate websites.

Final month, South Korea postponed its choice on permitting Apple to export high-precision digital map information, pushing the evaluation to December.

Reviews recommend Apple might present extra flexibility than Google in adhering to government-imposed restrictions, together with blurring, masking, or decreasing the decision of delicate websites. The corporate can also be stated to plan to make use of SK Telecom’s T Map as its main base map information supply.

Apple didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s requests for remark.

Google and Apple are upgrading their maps with detailed constructing footprints, alleyways, and exact street-level information to reinforce navigation, which might additionally assist superior applied sciences like self-driving cars and drone deliveries. For South Korea, exporting high-resolution map information might increase tourism, promote native companies, and drive good metropolis innovation, whereas giving the federal government leverage to implement safety safeguards. Critics, nevertheless, warn that the transfer might primarily profit U.S. tech giants slightly than home customers.

Google Maps has a broader international attain, masking 250 nations and territories, whereas Apple Maps is accessible in simply over 200 areas, per a report.