Page 129 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

Lingtu is unlikely to be a household brand name like the Rand McNally
hardcover atlas or even searchable Google Maps on the Web. However, it
claims to have the biggest and most comprehensive database of digital maps
in the country: some 337 major cities, all 31 provinces, and more than
800,000 kilometers of roads. This is practically 100 percent coverage of
urban China. The cities and sites on the maps are all in Mandarin.
Lingtu follows in the navigational wake of the Chinese admirals
Zheng He and Wang Jinghong, who, beginning in 1403—years before
Columbus—took 62 ships and explored 32 nations, from Persia to East
Africa. After seeing and mapping large areas of the globe, the admirals
decided they didn’t need maps outside China, since the rest of the world was
filled with barbarians.
Lingtu’s mission of making digital maps in China is no small feat. Consider
the fact that about 30 percent of the roads in China change every year. Also,
China relies on landmarks, not addresses, for directions. No wonder my taxi
drivers are always getting lost! Government licenses are required to enter the
digital map business—a high barrier to entry. Lingtu is one of the few private
companies with that privilege. Google, for instance, does not have a map-
making license in China, though its satellite images of the earth can be seen on
the Internet in China, minus views of the Zhongnanhai diplomatic complex
where China’s leaders live and work and top-secret military compounds.
Then there’s the issue of piracy. Lingtu’s digital maps are ripped off and
sold illegally at a fraction of the original price; that’s nothing new to
Microsoft or any number of American firms selling in China. Lingtu tackles
the issue by cutting counterfeits off from instant map updates. “In China you
have to accept that piracy is there. You try to minimize the losses and
maximize the upside,” says Gobi general partner Lawrence Tse.
Nevertheless, China has one of
the fastest-growing digital map
markets in the world. What’s “In China you have to accept that piracy is
powering this surge is Global Posi- there. You try to minimize the losses and
tioning Systems (GPS), or satellite maximize the upside.”
transmissions to pinpoint loca-
Lawrence Tse,
tions. Today’s China is on the go,
general partner, Gobi Partners
using GPS as a guide. The gadget to
have is the pricey GPS-tooled smart

Lingtu—China’ s Navigator 103