谷歌地图想要填补其空白，而韩国是这个导航应用近二十年来最大的缺口之一，因为连基本的步行或驾车路线都仍不可用。争议核心是谷歌要求的 1:5,000 比例尺地图：韩国政府以国家安全为由长期拒绝高精度数据外流，这一政策也持续保护了 Naver 等本土平台的主导地位。

在去年以关税减让为交换的投资协议后，韩国承诺为美国企业促进包括位置数据在内的跨境数据传输，使这场地图争端从技术问题升级为贸易压力问题。特朗普已威胁若韩方批准不够快将重新加征关税，而谷歌则继续为本地合作方 TMap 的经审查 1:5,000 地图支付高额费用，并主张需由多个海外数据中心处理以避免远程用户延迟。

市场阻力同样量化明显：韩国空间信息协会调查中有 90% 的企业反对向谷歌开放。尽管谷歌在韩国搜索流量仅约 30%（全球约 90%）且 Naver 仅支持 4 种语言（谷歌为 80 多种），Naver 仍凭更强的本地众包商户信息保持竞争力，同时谷歌较高的 API 定价也加剧了中小企业成本压力。

Google Maps is trying to close a long-standing gap, and South Korea remains one of its largest blind spots nearly two decades after launch, with even basic walking and driving directions still unavailable. The central data issue is Google’s request for 1:5,000-scale maps: Seoul has repeatedly blocked high-resolution exports on national-security grounds, a policy that has also preserved domestic leaders such as Naver.

After last year’s investment deal tied to tariff reductions, South Korea pledged to facilitate cross-border data transfers for American firms, including location data, turning the mapping dispute into a trade-sensitive test case. Trump has already threatened to raise tariffs again if ratification lags, while Google keeps paying a large fee for TMap’s censored 1:5,000 base map and argues that global multi-datacenter processing is needed to avoid latency for distant users.

Quantitative resistance is strong: 90% of firms surveyed by the Korean Association of Spatial Information oppose giving Google broader access. Google holds only about 30% of South Korean search traffic versus roughly 90% globally, and although Naver supports just 4 languages compared with Google’s 80+, it remains competitive through stronger local crowdsourced venue data while Google’s higher API pricing can impose heavy costs on smaller firms.

Source: Google Maps makes another pitch for better South Korean data

Subtitle: Now Donald Trump is on Google’s side

Dateline: 2月 26, 2026 05:17 上午 | SEOUL