Editor's note: Interactive tools like mapping and surveying have seen resurgent demand in recent times. But with the growth there have also been several questions on the credibility of the information provided by companies.

In China, the mapping and surveying sectors come under the purview of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping. Song Chaozhi, deputy director-general of the bureau, spoke to China Daily on the steps being taken to improve the credibility of information.

Q: What is the progress on the licenses for Internet map service providers, especially for joint ventures between Chinese and foreign companies?

A: We have granted first-class surveying and mapping credential certificates to 30 companies so far. Work on the second-class credential approval procedure has also started. All the licenses were issued under the Internet Map Service Professional Standards of the bureau.

We will follow the credential approval procedure for the applications submitted by joint venture companies that have Chinese and foreign partners. We have already given a first-class surveying and mapping license to one of these companies.

Q: There were reports that the bureau has unearthed several cases of illegal surveying and mapping this year. What are the steps being planned to check this problem?

A: We hope to address this issue by significantly improving the laws and regulations. As part of this we plan to bring newly developed services like Internet mapping, three-dimensional electronic mapping and Global Positioning System navigation under the purview of the legalized management system.

We also expect to complete the market access procedures and hope to have information on all the service providers in the industry.

We will simplify the administrative mechanism, improve geographic information infrastructure and also step up our vigilance to catch offenders.

More importantly we will also improve our inter-departmental cooperation mechanism, as the supervision of geographic information requires the concerted efforts of several departments.

Steps will also be taken to educate the public on the mapping and surveying policies to avoid sensitive information leaks in maps and surveys.

We have also evolved standards for companies and these would be made available online soon.

Q: Why are the number of illegal cases rising?

A: Geographical information is an important strategic resource valued by every nation. The industry is growing rapidly in China, and the market includes State-owned enterprises as well as individuals. Policing such a huge market is not an easy task for the bureau.

We also have to be careful, as there have been several instances of foreigners violating our laws. Some of these cases involved leaks from within the department, whereas in several other instances it was espionage.

Q: What kind of measures has the department taken to safeguard national security?

A: We are establishing a geography security classification system and developing a supervision system for Internet mapping services. The new system will be able to detect errors in Internet maps. The department is also capable of pruning sensitive or secret information before it is released in the public domain.

Q: Is the bureau going to deal with full time management of information gathering and analysis?

A: We have our own department to conduct these jobs. Their job is to analyze the data and submit suggestions to policy-makers.

We will also improve the survey management facilities at the provincial level. But they still have limited powers to check offenders.

(China Daily 09/09/2010 page13)