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I am not a fan of China, but not wanting coordinates of strategic targets in your country to be precisely known doesn't seem crazy. Other restrictions they have

I am not a fan of China, but not wanting coordinates of strategic targets in your country to be precisely known doesn't seem crazy. Other restrictions they have like not being able to access the Internet, or being put in reeducation camps, or not having a say in how your government is run would affect me badly. But if navigation in my car worked fine, would I care if topography is a bit distorted? During the pandemic, I saw US federal, state and local government restrict my freedom in much more drastic ways, even after I was already vaccinated. I know it was even worse in China, but I would still focus on these other things and rather than not having precise coordinates of a military base.

ammo1662 2y ago
Topography in the navigation app will not be distorted for Amap or Baidu map. They looks correct. Maybe people just don't know how important a navigation app is. With enough usage data, you can know the traffic status of any area. Amap and Baidu already use these data to provide the countdown of traffic light. It has 90% accuracy. You can also have a deep understanding of the economic status, or find out some hidden buildings. So for an algorithm which is already reverse engineered many years ago, it cannot protect anything. It is just a policy to stop foreign companies to join this game. As for the reason, "national security", "unacceptable risk".
- gravescale 2y ago
  > Amap and Baidu already use these data to provide the countdown of traffic light It's often off by whole second or two. Disaster, I know! It'll also tell if it can you the ideal speed to drive to hit the next green light and join a "green wave".
  - brnt 2y ago
    I wish TomTom would get in on that.
    - gravescale 2y ago
      It's funny isn't it, China has a bizarre monopolistic mapping thing enforced legally and technically, and yet it's the Western companies that have basically not produced a new feature for about 10 years, despite slurping down all those petabytes of data in that time (not that Baidu and friends don't slurp data of course, and lots of it).
7184 2y ago
China isn't North Korea. By and large, people live normal modern lives there. Most are uninterested in what's beyond the firewall because it's mostly not in their language, even if they've seen it and can read English. But yeah, "don't talk about religion or politics" is basically a law instead of just a recommendation to maintain polite relationships with acquaintances.

ammo1662 2y ago

Topography in the navigation app will not be distorted for Amap or Baidu map. They looks correct. Maybe people just don't know how important a navigation app is. With enough usage data, you can know the traffic status of any area. Amap and Baidu already use these data to provide the countdown of traffic light. It has 90% accuracy. You can also have a deep understanding of the economic status, or find out some hidden buildings. So for an algorithm which is already reverse engineered many years ago, it cannot protect anything. It is just a policy to stop foreign companies to join this game. As for the reason, "national security", "unacceptable risk".

gravescale 2y ago
> Amap and Baidu already use these data to provide the countdown of traffic light It's often off by whole second or two. Disaster, I know! It'll also tell if it can you the ideal speed to drive to hit the next green light and join a "green wave".
- brnt 2y ago
  I wish TomTom would get in on that.
  - gravescale 2y ago
    It's funny isn't it, China has a bizarre monopolistic mapping thing enforced legally and technically, and yet it's the Western companies that have basically not produced a new feature for about 10 years, despite slurping down all those petabytes of data in that time (not that Baidu and friends don't slurp data of course, and lots of it).

7184 2y ago

China isn't North Korea. By and large, people live normal modern lives there. Most are uninterested in what's beyond the firewall because it's mostly not in their language, even if they've seen it and can read English. But yeah, "don't talk about religion or politics" is basically a law instead of just a recommendation to maintain polite relationships with acquaintances.