Google demands high-precision map data

[Anchor]

You may have used it at least once when traveling abroad.

Google Maps allows you to find your way in every nook and cranny.

Until now, Google has persistently requested Korea’s high-precision map data under the pretext of improving its services in Korea, and this issue is showing signs of becoming a card in the tariff negotiations.

Reporter Yoon Ah-rim has the story.

[Report]

I asked foreign tourists which map app they use.

[Emily/Australian tourist: "I use Naver because Google Maps is very hard to find walking directions to get from place to place."]

In fact, I compared the route from Gyeongbokgung Station to Gwanghwamun using Google Maps and a domestic app.

The walking and vehicle navigation provided by the domestic app is not available on Google Maps.

Google Maps also has less information on public transportation, such as bus routes.

[Michelle/Indonesian tourist: "Google is not very complete. (From the subway station) it's more easier because there's like Line 2, Line 3. (Korean apps) are the easiest."]

Google has requested high-precision maps data from our government again after nine years, claiming to improve their map services.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) also specified Korea as a country with trade barriers regarding location-based data exports in its report this year.

Is that really the case?

What Google is asking for is a map with a scale of 1:5,000, which can identify even alleyways in detail.

However, the government maintains that most countries, including Europe, provide Google with maps at the same scale of 1:25,000 as we do.

[IT industry insider/voice altered: "For map services to become more convenient, efforts and investments must precede, and simply making the map more precise does not create these data."]

There are also security issues.

Unlike domestic apps, Google does not obscure major security facilities such as power plants and military bases, but it is reported that Google intends to obscure security facilities this time.

The government is expected to reach a conclusion on whether to provide high-precision maps data by the end of this month (May) through a consultative body composed of various ministries.

This is KBS News, Yoon Ah-rim.