DigiCha

Leading Chinese map provider AutoNavi holdings is planning to raise $100 in an IPO on Nasdaq under the symbol “AMAP”. The company generates most of its revenue from automobile navigation.

Wireless and online mapping services (through its MapABC Technology subsidiary) account for approximately 10% of overall, and Google specifically accounts for just over 1%.  (As the Wall Street Journal reported today, Google is applying for a new online map license in China and may not get it-Google Seeks Beijing License).

In its F-1 filing with the SEC, AutoNavi provides an overview of the regualtory environment for mapping in China. It is eyeopening. From AutoNavi’s filing:

As a provider of navigation and location-based solutions, we are regulated by various government authorities, including, among others:

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping;

The General Administration of Press and Publications;

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (successor of Ministry of Information Industry); and

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The principal PRC regulations governing surveying and mapping, digital map production, aerial photogrammetry, online map publication and other aspects of our business activities in China include:

Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (Amended in 2007);

Surveying and Mapping Law (2002);

Map Drawing and Publishing Administrative Regulations (1995);

The Administrative Rules of Surveying Qualification Certificate (2009);

The Rules of Examination and Verification of Maps (2006);

The Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Internet Map (2005);

The Notice Regarding Administration of Digital Navigation Maps (2007);

Opinions on Strengthening the Administration of Internet Map Services and the Websites that Provide Geographical Information Services (2008);

The Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Internet Map (2009);

The Notice Regarding Strengthening the Administration of Aerial Photogrammetry (2005);

Telecommunications Regulations (2000);

The Administrative Measures for Telecommunications Business Operating Licenses (2001);

The Internet Information Services Administrative Measures (2000);

The Tentative Measures for Administration of Internet Publication (2002);

The Administrative Measures on Electronic Publications (2008); and

Standard for Internet Map Services (2010).

As the navigation and location-based services industry is at an early stage of development in China, new laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to require additional licenses and permits other than those which we currently have, and to address new issues that arise from time to time. As a result, substantial uncertainties exist regarding the interpretation and implementation of any current and future PRC laws and regulations applicable to the navigation and location-based services industry.

AutoNavi is a well-connected Chinese firm that is enjoying the boom in Chinese car ownership and the subsequent demand for navigation devices. Google is a foreign-firm recently criticized on CCTV for leaking state secrets through its mapping products; Danwei has an excellent English summary of that report. I would be surprised if Google gets the new mapping license.

Please tell me what you think in the comments.

If you use RSS you can subscribe to this blog’s feed here, if you use Twitter you can follow my more frequent updates @niubi, and if you use Sina Weibo you can follow me here. You can also follow my blogging on more general China topics at Sinocism.

Related posts:

1. Google, China and “Digital Combat”
2. Update On Netease and World of Warcraft in China
3. Sinica Podcast: Beijing’s Ambivalent Relationship with the Internet and Zhang Wuben’s Mung Beans
4. Questions Arising From New Details On The Google Cyberattacks
5. If Google.cn Will Soon Disappear, Should Google “Burn Its Boats” On The Way Out?