Why MS removed offline china map?

[newnews]

Recently found that there is no longer available to download offline map for China on win10/10m. MS is killing himself on China market?

 

[user43645]

I noticed this same thing. I have a Windows phone. My map app had China downloaded last week, now it is gone. China isn't even available to search for the map and download. WTF?!

 

[ma678]

I bought a Lumia 640 mainly as a backup for my trip to China. If it doesn't have offline maps there, I am wondering if I keep it or not.

Are you talking about ms map or here map?

 

[RumoredNow]

Are you talking about ms map or here map?

Same data source...

 

[ma678]

Too bad I didn't have a windows device before that.
Posted from Windows 8.1

 

[ghce]

Why has there been no response to this?? Are Microsoft this stupid?? really cant believe that Microsoft would alienate 1.3 Billion potential users and foreign visitors to China. I use my offline maps all the time when I am in China, this is one of the MAJOR benefits of having a Nokia/ microsoft phone and one of its best selling points. Microsoft get a big FAIL on this one

 

[richard clason]

I have a nokia 630 purchased in china a nokia 930 purchased in the UK. After upgrading to Windows 10 the nokia 630 still allows the maps of China do be downloaded but the nokia 930 cant.

I tried changing region and languages but still does not work.

The fact the Chinese purchased phone can still access maps of China tells me the maps are still available but being blocked.

can anyone suggest how to fix?

 

[ghce]

Sounds like you need to change the Carrier code, elsewhere on this forum there is a description of how to do this, it was in the 950XL forum,

not saying you should do this but changing the Carrier code maywell be the answer

 

[wgs84]

Shoot. I just checked an 8.1 phone and my tech preview phone, and the downloadable maps for China really are gone. It's too bad because they were pretty damn helpful when I visited Zhongshan in October last year. It was especially helpful considering Google Maps (anything Google really) is crippled to such an extent that my Android tablet became useless. My sister's iPhone became pretty crippled in China, too. Only my Lumia was relatively unaffected.

 

[DesRed]

I apologise for resurrecting an old thread, but after doing a google search after finding out that my China map disappeared from my Lumia 1520, I found a reason from mobilegeeks.com (search for 'HERE Maps No Longer Support Hong Kong, Macau & China on Android'). An excerpt from the article:

"China is not currently a primary focus market for HERE. While China – like many other markets – will see a greater role for location services as connectivity becomes more pervasive, the regulatory environment means that we have not been able to apply the same business model in China that we have had success with elsewhere. Chinese rules prevent us as a foreign entity developing and owning the map. As such, the market is not attractive to HERE right now, but we’ll continue to monitor the regulatory developments." - Dr. Sebastian Kurme (Communications Manager, Nokia)

P.S. I apologise for not being able to post a link as my post count is only 3, and I need a post count of 10 to be able to post a link.

 

[ghce]

Yes I found a bunch of other similar links including Microsoft's explanation on the regulatory framework which allowed maps in China but like you I was unable to post those links.
I think that the maps are still available to download as I recently purchased a 930 which I loaded the profile of my 920 onto which I had zoned to china when I was over there and then downloaded the relevant maps from the regions I was in on to. Loading this profile on to the 930 3 or 4 weeks ago has resulted in my having the Chinese maps on it..... go figure.

 

[DesRed]

@ghceltd: Interesting. The odd thing about my case is that I already installed the China maps into my phone sometime last year and then after updating my maps, the China map was deleted in the process.

Imagine my surprise when I swiped over to China in HERE Maps on my phone to find that almost all of the roads and the landmarks were wiped clean. Oddly enough, Hong Kong and Macau maps are still available for download.

 

[RumoredNow]

This may have to do with licensing... Or a Chinese Government request.

HERE is now owned by a consortium of automobile manufacturers. They may not have renewed a license. Then again, I can easily imagine the Chinese authorities requesting this as well.

 

[wgs84]

@ghceltd: Interesting. The odd thing about my case is that I already installed the China maps into my phone sometime last year and then after updating my maps, the China map was deleted in the process.

Imagine my surprise when I swiped over to China in HERE Maps on my phone to find that almost all of the roads and the landmarks were wiped clean. Oddly enough, Hong Kong and Macau maps are still available for download.

That's because HK and Macau are Special Administrative Regions (see the One China Two Systems). HK and Macau have their own governments, laws, money, etc. separate from the Chinese government. This is the reason why the Internet doesn't suck in HK and Macau like it does in China. I mentioned above that my Android tablet was crippled beyond belief when I was in China, but it worked absolutely flawlessly as soon as I crossed the border into HK. This is also the reason why maps in China suffer from datum offset issues (open up Google Maps, navigate to somewhere in China, and check out the aerial imagery compared to the roads layer. You will see alignment issues.).

 

[ghce]

@ghceltd: Interesting. The odd thing about my case is that I already installed the China maps into my phone sometime last year and then after updating my maps, the China map was deleted in the process.

Imagine my surprise when I swiped over to China in HERE Maps on my phone to find that almost all of the roads and the landmarks were wiped clean. Oddly enough, Hong Kong and Macau maps are still available for download.

Exactly the same thing has happened with my Nokia 820, previously I had downloaded Chinese maps to this phone but about 2 weeks ago updated the current maps. Result was that the Chinese maps except HK were wiped from the phone, this was the action that started my search as to what could have happend to cause this. Needless to say I wont be updating my new 930's existing maps any time soon.