Mobile map gives directions to courts

A new app from China's top court and Baidu Map will help people find the accurate location of courts and get basic information about each one.

"I was once misled by the old application when I went to a court. Its global positioning system told me I was very near my destination, but actually I spent a long time getting there," said 30-year-old Kong Yiying from Guangdong province, who was sometimes lost while searching for courts in the region.

The top court launched the map project in October 2017, ordering all courts nationwide to provide their authorized location as well as an introduction, "aiming to save litigants time finding us and supplying them with better legal services," said Xu Jianfeng, director of the information center with the Supreme People's Court.

Each court can update location or information in a timely manner, "but before they post, the content should first be reviewed by the top court," he said.

People can also get a court's opening hours and see real-time images, according to Xu.

"That's to say, a litigant will know how many people are in a court's lawsuit center and decide whether to go when using the app," he said.

If residents still have difficulties finding a court, they can click a telephone symbol on the map, "and our legal service hotline will help them," he said.

So far, the map has collected information from 3,503 courts, "and it will cover all courts by the Spring Festival next month," he said.

Users can also access the top court's other websites, including a platform for searching verdicts.

"That's data integration and will increase efficiency," Xu added.

Liang Zhixiang, vice-president of Baidu, regarded the app as a contribution to artificial intelligence on justice.

"It's a new way to make full use of judicial data, and what we want is to serve litigants," he added.