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Who tf prints GPS coordinates???
lmao. There's a nugget of truth to it tho, maps of China are intentionally distorted an extend. A short vid explaining it.
And no, of course maps aren't illegal - but surveying, making your own accurate map, is indeed.
But it's not like "tHe wEsT" doesn't do similar things; you'll find lot's of copy-pasted trees where military training grounds should be, for example.
Normally I don't trust wikipedia, but even they describe the mechanism better than that video:
"A marker with GCJ-02 coordinates will be displayed at the correct location on a GCJ-02 map. However, the offsets can result in a 100 - 700 meter error from the actual location if a WGS-84 marker (such as a GPS location) is placed on a GCJ-02 map, or vice versa. The Google.com street map is offset by 50–500 meters from its satellite imagery,[9][19] while the Google.cn map is not.[20] Yahoo! Maps also displays the street map without major errors when compared to the satellite imagery.[21] MapQuest overlays OpenStreetMap data perfectly as well.[22]"
So theres a way to license the GCJ-02 algorithm (meaning its also deterministic) so map vendors can display accurate placement on a GCJ-02 map, but it probably requires following Chinese regulations. This seems like an obfuscation technique similar to how the US limits the accuracy of GPS in certain areas, for certain time periods and for certain industries, China just went the extra mile. Not exactly the hyperbole that the youtube comments for that video are screaming about.
similar to how the US limits the accuracy of GPS in certain areas and for certain industries
Selective Availability has ended since 2000/2007. But that doesn't mean you can't just jam it locally, which is probably what you'll see around military points of interest.
Interesting video, hadn't heard of this before. I think this a great example of why our response to this propaganda should be to try and understand the specifics and historical context of the accusation instead of outright denying it. More often than not these types of smears have some truth behind them but the real rhetorical trick is making relatively benign stuff seem evil just by invoking idea of communist repression.
I'm guessing national security concerns towards non-state actors.
IIRC that is also the case in Europe. Like you need to obtain a license from the state to open a surveying company.
I'm not sure how to even find that out to be honest. But I'd figure most nations will have some vested interest in hiding or obfuscating some geographical info from the general populace.
This isn't exactly false, google maps scrambles maps of China so when you look at them the streets are off compared to what they'd actually be if you were there.
South Korea also does something similar.
You can't really use google maps in China though, believe I've tried. There are plenty of other very useful, chinese map apps though.
I just said google maps as an example because you can easily verify this using google earth and comparing it to the street map overlay as being wrong.
The same would also be true on Chinese apps. It's far from an uncommon thing around the world to require map providers to obscure things.
I've heard this exact same thing said about the USSR, at least get new "Communism bad" bits, jeez
