Page 127 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

CHAPTER EIGHT

Inspired by Steve Jobs, the purely local hardscrabble team at the Chinese start-up Lingtu
creates world-class digital maps of the Middle Kingdom for every imaginable electronic
gadget. Having mastered the fine art of digital mapmaking à la Google Earth, it’s grooming
itself for a public listing.

Lingtu—
China’s Navigator

he first time I toured Beijing’s
T Forbidden City, in August
1995, it was so hot that I cooled off
by drenching myself with bottled
water. All the while, I was trailed by a
hunched-over peasant who des-
perately wanted my empty container. I
ended up giving it to her so that she
would stop following me. She smiled
a toothless grin in thanks before
hobbling off in the other direction.
Ten years later, conditions for touring the former Imperial Palace are
much better, with Beijing a polished, glistening version of its former self. I’m
in an air-conditioned conference room, getting an effortless three-dimensional
virtual tour by computer monitor of the capital city’s top tourist site. Tracking
the images on a large screen, I zoom in from a high angle, and get an up-close
look at the fine details on the ancient sculptures. The dusty red colors and
golden hues are so realistic that it’s almost like being there.
Credit for creating this startlingly clear 3-D visual imagery goes to a
young company in China called Beijing Lingtu Software Co. It makes a full

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Copyright © 2008 by Rebecca A. Fannin. Click here for terms of use.