According to Korean and international media, this move by the Korean Government opens up opportunities for Google to provide full Google Maps services in this country, such as real-time walking and driving directions.
This move reverses the long-standing data restriction policy, which has made Google Maps and Apple Maps almost inoperable in South Korea. To date, Google has provided map services in South Korea using high-resolution map data, 1:5000 scale, but because it cannot export that data to its server, the company cannot provide features such as step-by-step directions or detailed lists of businesses.
South Korea has opposed Google's requests since 2011, arguing that the company's accurate satellite maps could endanger national security by revealing sensitive military locations when combined with commercial images and online data.
Because South Korea is technically still at war with North Korea, the Government is cautious about leaking such locations, and has so far asked Google to establish a domestic data center and hide sensitive locations.
The permission to export data comes with strict regulations designed to protect military sites and sensitive infrastructure. The South Korean government will verify compliance before any data is exported out of the country.
Any images of Korean territory used in Google Maps and Google Earth must comply with national security regulations; and historical images in Google Earth and Street View must obscure sensitive military locations. Google is also required to delete or limit coordinate data for locations in Korea, and only data necessary for navigation and route planning is allowed to be exported.
The government also requires all data processing to be carried out on servers operated by Google's local partners. Sensitive terrain and military data are still prohibited, and any updates to military or security websites must be made immediately on domestic servers as required by the government.
This move will certainly create waves of influence on the domestic map market of South Korea, where local positioning applications such as Naver Map, T Map and Kakao Map have developed strongly in the context of the absence of suppliers such as Google or Apple.
The South Korean government has also outlined new measures to handle potential security incidents related to the export of high-resolution maps. Google is also required to appoint a local official responsible for contacting the government to quickly respond to potential security incidents.
Google welcomes the decision of the South Korean Government and said it will put forward specific service deployment plans.
We welcome today's decision and look forward to further cooperation with local officials to bring Google Maps fully functional to South Korea," Cris Turner, Google's Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, said in a press release.
