Mapping in a country involves the national secrets and thus only those organized authorized have the right to map either on a local level or on a national level. However, the cases of illegal mapping have been on the rise recently. Among them, one case in Shanghai is typical. In April 2010, the Shanghai Municipal Office of Surveying and Mapping found that a hand-drawn map was offered by a to visitors of 2010 World Expo. Later it was detected that from February to April 2010the middle school had printed more than 10000 copies of maps without being authorized to do so. The map was also posted on the schools website for download.
On May 10, the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping declared 10 major cases of illegal surveying and mapping in China in 2010. Since 2006, surveying and mapping authorities at various levels had probed into investigating more than 3000 such violations. The frequency of the illegal mapping revealed peoples lack of illegal sense in mapping. Most of the violators did not realize that they had done something wrong until they were investigated. Whats worse, some who had made the maps had neither the qualification nor the ability to make maps. Mapping actually involves professional knowledge. Mapping experts say some people, lack of sense of the territorial claims and sovereignty embodied in the maps, have made some foolish mistakes such as drawing the wrong boundaries, omitting important islands or using the wrong colors. Some even make mistakes in the length of the borders and such mistakes may lead to diplomatic disputes. Misunderstanding among neighbor countries has thus come into being. Some violate the law on purpose such as some people may enter into other countries to map the places they have been to, offering information to their motherlands for political or military purposes. Illegal surveying has also become a major concern to surveying and mapping authorities.
Some mapping experts maintain that Chinas geographical information service market is developing rapidly, which makes the supervision and regulation more difficult. Whats more, the rapid development of new IT technologies has made mapping activities more accessible and increase the channels through which secrets can be leaked. All the abovementioned issues have out forward many challenges to the organizations involved. It is hoped that special laws will be implemented to regulate the mapping behaviors within the law and those outlaws should be punished according to the intentions and the results of their illegal mapping.