Does Azure Maps support to use with China?

Question

Hi there,

We are planing to integrate Azure Maps to our application for the customers in China. Before that, we would like to confirm the following questions:

1. Is Azure Maps legal to use in China? Can render the China map well?
2. Are the Azure Maps REST Services supported the use in China? e.g. Map Tiles, Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Route Directions and Timezone
3. Can we call the requests to Azure Maps REST Services with the addresses of China, but from the outside of China ?

Thanks,

Leslie

Answer 1

Hello Leslie Li,

As of now, Azure maps services are not available China, but will available in the future as the team is working on adding support.

Is Azure Maps legal to use in China? Can it render the China map well?

• Azure Maps is currently not supported for use in China. The team is working on adding support for South Korea first, and then they will start on China. Due to the regulations and approvals needed for map platforms in China, a timeline for its release cannot be provided at this time.

Are the Azure Maps REST Services supported for use in China? e.g., Map Tiles, Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Route Directions, and Timezone

• Azure Maps REST Services are not currently supported for use in China. This includes services like Map Tiles, Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Route Directions, and Time zone.

Can we call the requests to Azure Maps REST Services with the addresses of China, but from outside of China?

• While Azure Maps REST Services are not supported for use in China, you can call the requests to Azure Maps REST Services with addresses of China from outside of China. However, please note that the accuracy and availability of the data might be limited due to the lack of official support for China.

To check the list of available services at a particular location, you can check by visiting this link: Product Availability by Region

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries. 

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Answer 2

Hello @Leslie Li ,

welcome to this moderated Azure community forum.

I checked this conversation:

As far as I know Azure Maps plans to add support for China. I'm not on the Azure Maps team but have a lot of experience working with maps in China. The Azure Maps team/Microsoft can't provide timelines for when this would be supported if they wanted as it's completely controlled by Chinese policies. All map platforms in China have to make a lot of customizations to align with these policies and go through a lot of reviews by officials in China where there is no timeline on when they will complete a review. It is a frustrating problem where geopolitical tensions don't help with the timelines either. Generally, it takes months for a single review and can easily take years to get a map platform live in China. Every little change to a map platform in China has to go through a review. So, even if Azure Maps uses the exact same data as Bing Maps in China, there is still a lot red tape before Azure Maps can flip the switch on in China.

I recommend opening a support ticket if you want to have a further discussion with the support team.

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