Licenses granted as Map World opens up

BEIJING - More than 100 domestic and overseas companies that provide online mapping services have received licenses to continue doing business in China, while another 100 were still applying for a license, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Song Chaozhi, deputy director of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, said at a news conference that the online mapping service in China was open. Many foreign companies offering online mapping services, such as Nokia Alliance Internet Services Company Limited, have received a license.

On Tuesday, the bureau also launched the final version of China's official online mapping service - Map World - after a trial version started operating in late October.