China
V・T・E China, Eastern Asia  |
| latitude: 39, longitude: 104 |
| Browse map of China 39°00′00.00″ N, 104°00′00.00″ E |
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External links:
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China is a country in Eastern Asia at latitude 39°00′00.00″ North, longitude 104°00′00.00″ East.
Welcome to the China mapping project!
If you want to read the Chinese version of this page, please select Chinese in the square checkbox on the page, or click here:中国。
This is a recommended mapping and tagging tutorial for mainland China：China Tagging Guidelines
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Legality
According to the Surveying and Mapping Law of the People's Republic of China, private surveying and mapping activities without authorization[a] are illegal in mainland China. "Since at least 2007, it has been effectively illegal for foreigners to operate a GPS device in China."[1]
China's state media has released a string news articles about illegal mapping efforts as a threat to national security. The article also mentions news which had been announced before, that any foreigner collecting geographical data without permission will be "severely punished".
- March 7, 2007 - Unlawful surveys to be dealt severely
- March 25, 2008 - China cracks down on illegal online map services to protect state security
- January 18, 2009 - China fines UK students for 'illegal map-making'
- May 19, 2010 - China goes after illegal online maps
This seems to outlaw the entire OSM project and any participation or contribution. Presumably the government wouldn't go to the hassle of pursuing lawbreakers who have contributed data so far. However, the law may be actively enforced in Xinjiang, Tibet and near sensitive facilities.[2] "Most of the violations publicized so far have involved [research] in Xinjiang. Working in Tibet, meanwhile, has become almost impossible."[1]
Content regulations/Legality of content
There are some less important laws that manage map content in China. In the context of OSM, it makes the project just a bit more illegal.
- 公开地图内容表示若干规定 ("some rules on the content presentation of public maps") of 2003 by the Bureau Surveying and Mapping (BSM) prohibits military=*, depth=*, and any airport not on a list of airports for public view. Also some stuff about territorial completeness.
- 公开地图内容表示补充规定（试行）("supplementary rules on the content presentation of public maps, trial version") of 2009 from the BSM prohibits voltage=*, maxheight=*, maxweight=*, maxwidth=*, surface=* and utility=*. Also no prisons, drug rehabs, dams, or any locations more precise than 50 meters.
- 地图管理条例 ("map management regulations") from 2015 by the State Council prohibits storing map data out of China. That's the entire OSM right there.
Coordinate system
Most online map services in China, including foreign map services that are available in China, use a set of obscured and transformed coordinates system, "GCJ-02", for their maps in order to comply with instructions from relevant departments. Please note that OSM do not use such kind of coordinate system and thus please do not include data manipulated into such coordinate system or use imagery that are transformed into such coordinate when mapping in OSM. There are however tools to convert GCJ-02 into WGS84 available.
See also: Restrictions on geographic data in China on Wikipedia
Administrative divisions of China
- Main article: China/Boundaries
The administrative division is quite strict in China and the importance and size of a place is almost entirely determined by its administrative level. The general OSM classification (with just city, town, village), however, is not really sufficient to reflect these levels. (Further reading: History of the term City (市) in China)
In order to reflect the Chinese administrative division better, a supplementary tag is used to denote this: place:CN=*. The classification (with hopefully self-explanatory names) is for places, not replacing the standard OSM tagging.
Provincial administrative regions/Province level
boundary=administrative + admin_level=4 
| Provinces | 省 (shěng) | 22 |
|---|---|---|
| Anhui | 安徽 | 913011 913011
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| Fujian | 福建 | 553303 553303
|
| Gansu | 甘肃 | 153314 153314
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| Guangdong | 广东 | 911844 911844
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| Guizhou | 贵州 | 286937 286937
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| Hainan | 海南 | 2128285 2128285
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| Hebei | 河北 | 912998 912998
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| Heilongjiang | 黑龙江 | 199073 199073
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| Henan | 河南 | 407492 407492
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| Hubei | 湖北 | 913106 913106
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| Hunan | 湖南 | 913073 913073
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| Jiangsu | 江苏 | 913012 913012
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| Jiangxi | 江西 | 913109 913109
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| Jilin | 吉林 | 198590 198590
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| Liaoning | 辽宁 | 912942 912942
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| Qinghai | 青海 | 153269 153269
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| Shaanxi | 陕西 | 913100 913100
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| Shandong | 山东 | 913006 913006
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| Shanxi | 山西 | 913105 913105
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| Sichuan | 四川 | 913068 913068
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| Yunnan | 云南 | 913094 913094
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| Zhejiang | 浙江 | 553302 553302
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| Autonomous Regions | 自治区 | 5 |
| Tibet | 西藏自治区 | 153292 153292
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| Xinjiang | 新疆 | 153310 153310
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| Guangxi | 广西 | 286342 286342
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| Inner Mongolia | 内蒙古 | 161349 161349
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| Ningxia | 宁夏 | 913101 913101
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| Province-level Municipalities | 直辖市 | 4 |
| Beijing | 北京 | 912940 912940
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| Tianjin | 天津 | 912999 912999
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| Shanghai | 上海 | 913067 913067
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| Chongqing | 重庆 | 913069 913069
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| Special Administrative Regions (SAR) | 特别行政区 (Tèbié Xíngzhèngqū) | 2 |
| Hong Kong (see Hong Kong) |
香港 (Xiānggǎng) | 913110 913110
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| Macau | 澳门 (Àomén) | 1867188 1867188
|
地级行政区/Prefecture level
boundary=administrative + admin_level=5
| 7 Prefecture (地区; dìqū)— These were formerly the dominant second-level division, which is why this administrative level is often called "prefecture-level". However, they were replaced for the most part by prefecture-level cities from 1983 to the 1990s. Today, prefectures exist mostly in Xinjiang and Tibet. |
| 30 Autonomous Prefectures (自治州; zīzhìzhōu)— Are prefectures with one or more designated ethnic minorities. These are mostly to be found in China's western regions. |
| 293 Prefecture-level Cities (地级市; dìjíshì)
place=city + capital=5 |
| 3 Leagues (盟; méng)— are effectively the same as prefectures, but they are to be found only in Inner Mongolia. Like prefectures, leagues have mostly been replaced with prefecture-level cities. The unique name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia. |
县级行政区/County level
boundary=administrative + admin_level=6
place=city + capital=6 
(The capital of the prefecture-level administrative region use capital=5)
(DO NOT USE population=* if population is greater than 400,000)
(as of 2021)
| 1,301 Counties (县; xiàn)— are the most common county-level subjects. Counties have continuously existed since Warring States Period, much earlier than any other level of government In China. Sinology literature, xian often translated as "districts" or "prefectures". |
| 117 Autonomous Counties (自治县; zìzhìxiàn)— are counties with one or more designated ethnic minorities. These analogous to autonomous regions (at the province-level) and prefectures prefecture-level). |
| 414 County-level cities (县级市; xiànjíshì)— are, like prefecture-level cities, not "cities" in the traditional sense of the word, since they are actually large administrative regions that cover both urban and rural areas. It was popular for counties to become county-level cities in the 1990s, though this has since been halted. |
| 977 Districts (市辖区; shìxiáqū)— another type of county-level division. These were formerly the subdivisions of urban areas, consisting of built-up areas only. In recent years, however, many counties have been converted into districts, so that today districts are often just like counties, with towns, villages, and farmland. |
| 49 Banners (旗; qí)— which are The same as counties except in name. name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration Mongolia. |
| 3 Autonomous Banners (自治旗; zìzhìqí)— which are The same autonomous counties except in name. name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration Mongolia. |
| 1 Forestry Areas (林区; línqū)— a special county-level subject forestry district currently there is only one forestry area (Shennongjia) located in Hubei province. |
| 1 Special Districts (特区; tèqū)— another special county-level subject exclusively located in Guizhou province. |
新区/New Areas
- 国家级新区/State-level new areas
boundary=administrative + admin_level=7 + place=city or place=suburb depending on population and importance
As of 2019, there are 20 New Areas (新区; xīn qū) in China. Although designated as state-level, they are administratively part of prefecture-level Cities (地级市). As they do not replace counties, and their boundaries may cross county boundaries, they are tagged using a different admin_level=*.
乡级行政区/Township level
boundary=administrative + admin_level=8
place=town + capital=8 (a settlement) or
place=suburb (part of the settlement)
| 8,101 Townships (乡; xiāng)— in smaller rural areas division they are divided into this subject. |
| 966 Ethnic Townships (民族乡; mínzúxiāng)— in a small one or more designated ethnic minorities rural areas division they are divided into this subject. |
| 21,013 Towns (镇; zhèn)— in larger rural areas division they are divided into this subject. |
| 8,519 Subdistricts (街道办事处; jiēdàobànshìchù)— in a small urban areas division they are divided into this subject. |
| 11 District Public Offices (区公所; qūgōngsuǒ)— are a vestigial level of government. These once represented an extra level of government between the county- and township-levels. Today there are very few of these remaining and they are gradually being phased out. |
| 153 Sumus (苏木; sūmù)— are the same as townships, but are unique to Inner Mongolia. |
| 1 Ethnic Sumus (民族苏木; mínzúsūmù)— are the same as ethnic townships, but are unique to Inner Mongolia. |
村级自治组织/Village level
boundary=administrative + admin_level=10
| In built-up areas |
| 115k Neighborhood Committees (社区居民委员会; jūmínwěiyuánhùi) |
| Neighborhoods / Communities attach to others (社区; shèqū) Use place=quarter |
| Neighborhoods / Communities standalone (社区; shèqū) Use place=village |
| Rural |
| 492k Village Committees ((村民委员会; cūnmínwěiyuánhùi) |
| Administrative Villages (行政村; xíngzhèngcūn) Use place=village |
| Natural Villages / Village groups (自然村 / 村民小组; zìráncūn / cūnmínxiǎozǔ) Use place=hamlet |
Conventions
Name tagging
- See Multilingual_names#China for name convention
- Tag Key:ref appropriately for roads.
Road Types
NOTE: This classification is considered too vague. Please talk about it in its talk page.
- See Chinese tagging guidelines for better reference.
Housing development (Xiǎoqū)
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Tag the boundary with place=neighbourhood and optionally landuse=residential.[3]
For roads within the Xiǎoqū use access restrictions to stop through traffic from being routed through. (access=permissive, access=private, or usually, only for motor vehicles motor_vehicle=private)
Examples: [1] 453297764
453297764, 298474996 298474996
Addresses
Not all addresses will be easy to fit in the OSM standard tags, below is a suggested way. If in doubt, use addr:full. For detailed reference see the addr key page.
Examples
Urban address with street name
甘肃省兰州市七里河区光华街33号，邮编：730050
| addr:country | CN |
| addr:province | 甘肃省 |
| addr:city | 兰州市 |
| addr:district | 七里河区 |
| addr:street | 光华街 |
| addr:housenumber | 33 |
| addr:postcode | 730050 |
Rural address, no street name
甘肃省兰州市七里河区阿干镇高林沟210号，邮编：730050
| addr:country | CN |
| addr:province | 甘肃省 |
| addr:city | 兰州市 |
| addr:district | 七里河区 |
| addr:subdistrict | 阿干镇 |
| addr:place | 高林沟 |
| addr:housenumber | 210 |
| addr:postcode | 730050 |
Generics in Chinese
When one of the following is present in a name, it is customary to translate them when using name:en, instead of just using Pinyin without accents, e.g. 天安门广场 becomes Tiananmen Square, not Tiananmenguangchang. In case English literature uses a different transliteration, this should prevail.
Places
Street types
Note: The following content has local views and is for reference only. If available, the official name should be used
- 胡同 (Hutong) : lanes (Beijing, Tianjin)
- 大院 (Dayuan) Courtyard
- 巷 (Xiang) : Alley, Lane
- 道 (Dao) : Byway
- 巷 (Xiang) : Alley, Lane
- 街 (Jiē) : Street
- 大街 (Dajie) : Main street
- 路 (Lu) : Road
- 桥 (Qiáo) : Bridge (special: wind-rain bridge)
- 大道 (Dadao) : Boulevard, Avenue
- 步行街 (Bùxíngjiē) : pedestrian street
- 条 (Tiao) : Measure word for a street
- 小 (Xiao) : Small
- 大 (Da) : Large
Orientation
- 西 (Xī) : West
- 东 (Dōng) : East
- 南 (Nán) : South
- 北 (Běi) : North
- 中 (Zhōng) : Middle
- 外 (Wài) : Outer
- 内 (Nèi) : Inner
- 后 (Hòu) : Behind
- 前 (Qián) : In front
Addresses
- 号 (Hào) : (house)number, not translated (12号 becomes addr:housenumber=12)
- 邮编 (Yóubiān) : postcode/zipcode
- 大厦 (Dàshà) : building (addr:building=*)
- 栋 (Dòng): classifier for buildings, for example 1栋 can be translated as 'Building 1' or simply '1'.
Other
- 广场 (Guǎngchǎng) : (public/city) square
- 公园 (Gōngyuán) : (Public) park
- 花园 (Huāyuán) : Garden
- 寺 (Sì) : Temple
- 政府 (Zhèngfǔ) : Government (town hall)
- 人民 (Rénmín) : People's
- 站 (zhàn) : station (train, bus...)
- 岛 (dǎo) : island
- 河、江、水 (hé, jiāng, shuǐ) : river
- 湖 (hú) : lake
Fortification semantics
- 屯 (tun ) : garrison/village
- 寨 (zhai) : camp/usually not fortified, could be civil or military
- 营 (ying) : military camp, some fortresses are called ying but it's a very common village name.
- 堡 (bao) : fort/fortress, mostly fortified but further from the Great Wall, the size reduces and some are just villages.
- 城 (cheng) : city/fortress: most likely that you can find a fortress with this name; also 土成 (tucheng# earthen fort), 城子 (chengzi, inside the fort), 古城/故城 (gucheng, old fort), 老城 (laocheng, also old fort), 旧城 (jiucheng, former fort), 城关 (chengguan, the fortified district of a city)
Also, villages along the Great Wall tend to have these words as part of their names: 边 (bian) : frontier 墙 (qiang) : wall
The following are often part of place names, but usually not literally translated (e.g. 石家庄 becomes Shijiazhuang, not Stone Family Village)
- 峡 (Xiá) : gorge
- 沟 (Gōu) : ditch/gully
- 湾 (Wān): river bend
- 营 (Yíng) : camp, barracks
- 家 (Jiā) : family, home
- 庄(Zhuāng): village
- 山 (Shān): mountain, peak
Possible Sources
Tianditu
MapWorld Services (in Chinese) Terms and conditions (服务条款)
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MapWorld Imagery at zoom levels 16-18 may be used as a reference or confirmation for Bing Aerial/Mapbox Satellite (so do not trace directly from MapWorld!). This is a state-run service and the only service in China where true WGS-84-based[4] Web Mercator Projection is provided.
View image levels 16-18 and Bing Aerial/Mapbox Satellite can be referenced alternately. This is the map service of the country's business, and it's the only thing that can be projected.
**According to the terms and conditions, Tianditu cannot be used for mapping or tracing, please acknowledge the potential copyright issues before you make any progress. You may be blocked by administrator.
According to the current terms, the aerial imagery cannot be used for mapping, and the administrator may ban you.
API Key
MapWorld Imagery API will no longer available without validated API Key after January 1st, 2019. A Mainland of China mobile number (+86) is required while sign up.
Usage/用法
- In JOSM(recommended), open "imagery preference" and add a TMS layer with the following url:
tms[18]:http://t0.tianditu.gov.cn/img_w/wmts?SERVICE=WMTS&REQUEST=GetTile&VERSION=1.0.0&LAYER=img&STYLE=default&TILEMATRIXSET=w&FORMAT=tiles&TILEMATRIX={z}&TILEROW={y}&TILECOL={x}&tk=<your ticket(server)>
- Or in iD, click "customizing backgroud" and enter the same excluding the prefix
tms[18]. That will cause empty tiles beyond the level 18, which is not convenient to do some precise edition, and that is why JOSM or other editor can restrict the zoom level is recommended.
Sentinel-2
Most recent imagery available, very helpful for newly developed areas. See Sentinel-2#Usage_in_editors.
Imports
GNS Place names data
See: China/GNS Place names data
AND数据/AND data
See: China/AND data
China Data Center
See: Katpatuka/CDC email traffic
USGS treecover
USGS forest cover imports have been done in a few areas, most notably north of Chongqing (Huaying mountain range) [2], Beichuan County in Mianyang 2787457 2787457. It is rather time-intensive to process manually correct the data however.
OSM map in Chinese
Tracestrack provides a map with use of capital=*
- https://tracesmap.com: a general purpose map with optimized city/town/district displaying
Useful Links
- JOSM软件使用帮助 ---> Translating
- OvitalMap (made in PRC) allowing to switch map layers of Google, Bing, Opencyclemap, Baidu and Sogou
- OSMChina -- The local community in China
Related projects
- China/Transport/Railways (中国铁路项目)
- China/Transport/National Highways (中国国道项目)
- China/Transport/Expressways (中国高速项目)
- SARs/similar areas
- 2010 Yushu earthquake
- 2014 Ludian earthquake
Notes and references
- ↑ Among other things, the authorization process requires "professional personeel and equipment", plus "sound technical and quality assurance system, security measures, information security and confidentiality management system, as well as mapping results and data archive management system." (S&M Law Article 27). Article 36 of the same law requires surverying results to be submitted to the State.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Foreigners Run Afoul of China's Tightening Secrecy Rules, Science, 25 Jan 2013 (doi:10.1126/science.339.6118.384)
- ↑ http://www.scmp.com/article/674578/foreign-gps-users-risk-arrest
- ↑ http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/17143/1/The%20Housing%20Model%20xiaoqu_Wallenwein.pdf
- ↑ It's technically CGCS2000, which is very very close to WGS84. Not to be confused with the obfuscated GCJ-02 they are forcing everyone else to use.