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Google Maps gets green light for Korean data use

Published: 27 Feb. 2026, 14:22 Updated: 01 Mar. 2026, 17:43

The Google Startup Campus office in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, is seen on Jan. 24, 2024. [NEWS1]

Korea’s high-precision mapping data will be allowed to be transferred overseas for the first time, after the government decided to grant conditional approval to Google’s long-standing request.

The government announced Friday that the decision is contingent on the condition that sensitive information, such as that related to national security facilities, would be redacted domestically before the data is exported.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other relevant agencies announced they convened a consultative body on the overseas transfer of map data and approved the request on condition that Google strictly complies with security requirements.

The consultative body requested Google to provide supplementary technical details in areas including security processing of imagery, restrictions on coordinate displays, and server use and post-management, and approved the transfer on the premise that Google would comply.

Under the imagery security processing requirement, Google has been restricted to using only satellite and aerial images that had undergone security processing in accordance with relevant laws and regulations when providing global services for Korea through Google Maps and Google Earth.

Military and security facilities have also been required to be masked in time-series imagery on Google Earth and in Street View. The government also decided to remove or restrict the display of coordinates for Korea.

The related server operations and post-management are to be handled through domestic servers. Google’s local partner will process the original data on servers it held in Korea, and only data that had undergone government review and verification, including a screening process for publication, would be allowed to be transferred overseas.

The Googleplex, the corporate heaquarters complex of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, in Mountain View, California, on Oct. 28, 2025. [EPA/YONHAP]

Only limited data needed for navigation and directional services, including base maps, roads and other transportation and network information, is to be transferred. Security-sensitive data such as contour lines will be excluded.

If military or security facilities are newly added or altered to the data and updates are required, the local partner would also be obligated to make revisions on domestic servers promptly at the government’s request.

The government and Google also agreed to respond jointly to security incidents. Before the data is to be transferred overseas, they planned to establish a security incident prevention and response framework and prepare technical measures, including a “red button” mechanism, to enable an emergency response in the event of an imminent or specific threat related to national security.

Google also agreed to have a local responsible officer for Korea-based mapping remain in the country and to set up 24-hour communications channel with the government.

The data will be transferred only after the government confirmed that the conditions had been met, the consultative body explained, adding that the government would suspend or revoke approval in the event of continuous and serious noncompliance.

The Google logo is seen outside the company's offices in London, Britain, on June 24, 2025. [REUTERS/AP]

“After reviewing the technical alternatives Google proposed, we found that they reduced longstanding security vulnerabilities, including exposure of military and security facilities and the display of coordinates,” the consultative body said. “We assessed that post-management control could be secured through a system that processes sensitive information on domestic servers and exports only limited information that has undergone government review and verification.”

The body added that the decision also required consideration of impacts including a boost to tourism, economic and technological ripple effects based on mapping services, and effects on Korea’s domestic spatial information industry.

In Korea, domestic map services such as Kakao Map and Naver Map have been used more widely, and foreign visitors who relied on Google Maps have long voiced frustration over its limited navigation and directions functions under the country’s restrictions on exporting high-precision mapping data.

High-precision maps refer to 1:5,000 scale maps, which reduce 50 meters (164 feet) in real distance to 1 centimeter on a map. Google first requested the overseas transfer of Korea’s map data in 2007 and 2016 and again in February 2025, but the government had rejected the requests on security grounds. Under the Act on the Establishment and Management of Spatial Data, exporting map data more detailed than 1:25,000 scale requires approval from the land minister.

Google currently uses 1:5,000 scale map data from T Map that had passed government security screening, but the data supported only basic electronic map display services that did not require exporting the data overseas. The company faced limitations in providing services such as navigation and route guidance without access to government-supplied high-precision map data.

President Lee Jae Myung, right, watches U.S. President Donald Trump sign a guest book at the Gyeongju National Museum in North Gyeongsang ahead of their bilateral summit on Oct. 29, 2025. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Some observers say the government’s decision reflects its intent on seeking leverage as uncertainty mounted in Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations.

The United States has cited Korea’s restrictions on overseas transfers of high-precision map data as a non-tariff barrier and has pressed Seoul to ease the rules. Uncertainty has escalated after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and he moved to impose a new global tariff.

The Ministry of National Defense agreed to the move after presenting conditions including the masking of key facilities and restrictions on coordinate displays.

“We had presented the masking of key facilities and restrictions on coordinate display as prerequisites,” the Defense Ministry said Friday. “We agreed to the matter, considering that those conditions, if met, could minimize security risks.”

Update, Feb. 27: Added details of the government's decision.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAEK MIN-JEONG [[email protected]]