China is to strengthen its supervision of online map services.

The draft of a new regulation on map compilation and publication was posted on the website of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council on Sept 25, for public comment until Oct 26.

The draft requires that all companies or individuals get a qualification certificate before conducting any activity related to map compilation.

Online map services must also set up measures to ensure the safety of map data and intensify their efforts to verify newly added map content, it continues.

The draft also sets the stage for creating a registration system for online map data and of companies and individuals forbidden from uploading and labeling online maps.