Satellite imagery data provided by different nations: China

China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM), which launched the "Map World" showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as China's territory, said that the independent Intellectual Property Rights of the mapping service refers to the online service software, but not data resource like the satellite imagery itself.

SBSM has clarified that the satellite imagery data used in China's Map World came from commercial satellites and the self-owned intellectual property rights in Map World refer to the platform's "service software," not its "data resources."

"Satellite images have been purchased from abroad, and I think the suppliers are from different countries," Jiang Jie, an official with the National Geomatics Centre of China under the SBSM was quoted by the state-run People's Daily as saying.

The clarification came after a Chinese blogger questioned the IPR of the map saying the satellite maps used in Map World most likely come from the US-based DigitalGlobe, which is the satellite imagery provider of Google Earth maps.

The 'Map World' in Chinese language is regarded as the rival for Google maps. In its clarification, the SBSM said China has secured IPR for service system, including data processing, management and maintenance, online services and interface secondary development.

The system will enable Map World to deal with 10 million page views per day."
"Map World is still at the stage of testing, and there is much room for improvement. Suggestions from Internet users are welcomed.

"More than 1,500 suggestions have been received on the feedback column on the website, and more than half of them said that names on Map World need to be updated and revised. We will check and revise those names," Jiang said.