S. Korea to decide on Google's transfer of high-precision map data by August

Seoul, May 11 (IANS) The South Korean government will decide by August whether to allow Google to transfer the country's high-precision map data overseas amid heated debates over national security, digital sovereignty and other trade issues, officials said on Sunday.

In February, the U.S. tech giant submitted an application to the state-run National Geographic Information Institute, seeking approval for the transfer of 1:5,000-scale high-precision map data to its data centres abroad.

The review panel must notify Google of the result within 60 days of the application date, with the possibility of a 60-day extension. Holidays are excluded from the review period, reports Yonhap news agency.

The initial deadline, accordingly, was mid-May, but the government has decided to extend the review period and make a decision before the second deadline of Aug. 11, as the June 3 presidential election was designated as a temporary holiday.

The decision will be made by the map data export review panel, which involves officials from major ministries, including the defense, foreign affairs, industry and science ministries, as well as the National Intelligence Service, the officials said.

Currently, Google provides South Korean maps using publicly available lower-resolution 1:25,000-scale map data combined with aerial and satellite imagery. This results in lower-quality mapping services compared with domestic map service providers.

Google previously made similar requests in 2007 and 2016, but Seoul rejected them due to national security concerns, citing potential exposure of military bases and other sensitive facilities.

In 2016, the government proposed conditions requiring Google to blur out sensitive sites or host the data on domestic servers, which Google refused.

This time, Google has expressed a willingness to comply with the blurring and has requested the coordinate data for security facilities. The added request for the coordinate data has raised concerns within the government's security community.

—IANS

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