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Google seeks to export Korea's map data again

Published: 28 Feb. 2025, 16:48 Updated: 28 Feb. 2025, 20:54

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Google again requested permission to export Korea’s detailed map data, nine years after the U.S. tech giant's last attempt was shut down by Seoul over security concerns.

Google's request comes ahead potential regulations by the new Donald Trump administration on any nontariff barrier for contributing to trade inequality, which could deal a blow to Korean firms under U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policy.

Google requested the export of 1:5,000 map data to the company’s overseas data centers on Feb. 18, according to the National Geographic Information Institute on Friday. At a 1:5,000 scale, every 1 centimeter (0.39 inches) is equivalent to a real-life distance of 50 meters (164 feet).

The National Geographic Information Institute under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is responsible for producing and managing maps and related data in the country.

Google previously requested Korea’s map data in 2007 and 2016 but was declined for security reasons. Apple, too, had its request rejected in 2023.

The company is currently limited to a 1:25,000 scale map in Korea, combined with aerial and satellite photos, lagging in quality compared to the map services offered by Naver and Kakao, and even compared to Google Maps in other regions.

The government previously requested that Google blur any areas that may entail security risks, including the detailed location of military bases, or that the company use a data center within Korea, but Google opted not to comply in 2016.

The tech giant, this time, is known to have accepted the government’s policy of blurring out any map points that must be obscured for security reasons and offered to create a hotline to the government, according to reports from the Chosun Ilbo on Friday.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]