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This just seems bizarre. What’s to stop companies in other countries from meaningfully mapping China using satellite data? Can’t they figure out the amount of o
by blackeyeblitzar 3y ago
This just seems bizarre. What’s to stop companies in other countries from meaningfully mapping China using satellite data? Can’t they figure out the amount of obfuscation or use AI algorithms to align the maps correctly?
- phantomathkg 3y agoNone, other than their personal safety (when the person enter China border, that's include Hong Kong), or if they want to enter China market.
- dudeinjapan 3y agoYes, it’s just market protectionism. There’s no military advantage to doing this.
- bhaney 3y agoAs far as I can tell, the only thing stopping them is that China considers it illegal for them to do so. Companies that provide a map of China would probably also like to operate in China, so they comply with their laws.
- bschne 3y agosomeone raised this point in another discussion about it, but I wonder if that's the main aim why you need the obscure algorithm in the first place, couldn't you just have these laws about maps of any standard?
- 5kg 3y ago(National) Security theatre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater Plus everyone who's involved will get richer.
- lolc 3y agoIt must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Back when surveying was analog. Way back in... 2002?
- patrakov 3y agoThe obfuscation algorithm has already been reverse-engineered, so no AI is needed. https://wuyongzheng.github.io/china-map-deviation/paper.html https://wuyongzheng.github.io/china-map-deviation/paper.html
- HeavenFox 3y agoIt's a rent seeking scheme. The algorithm is already reverse-engineered and you can download it from your favorite package manager. But in order to operate legally in China you need to purchase the "decryption module" from the surveying department.