China Selects 18 Mapping Services, Google Unlikely Choice

Late last month, China implemented new standards aimed at preventing "state secrets being disclosed and uncertified maps published online." A major component to this push was a requirement that all online mapping efforts be housed in mainland China and we wondered at the time how this might affect companies like Google. According to an article today in China Daily, 18 domestic firms have gotten the okay for providing maps of China to Chinese users, but the list of approved providers is not yet available. Sponsor While The Next Web reports that Google and Baidu are not among the approved companies, China has yet to release the list of companies selected from the pool of 30 applicants.