This photo illustration taken in Seoul on February 27, 2026 shows a Google Maps screen with a search for Seoul City Hall on a smartphone and a Google Maps webpage showing a map of Seoul. Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
Seoul: Google Maps could soon work properly in South Korea after Seoul agreed Friday to share data with the popular app, but restrictions will stop sensitive military sites being revealed.
South Korea sits alongside the likes of China and Russia as one of the few places in the world where Google Maps does not fully function.
Seoul has repeatedly rejected requests to share precision map data with Google, arguing it could expose sensitive military sites and weaken defenses against North Korea.
South Korea's land ministry has changed course after almost 20 years, granting permission to share map data with "strict security conditions".
Street View and historical time-series imagery on Google Earth must mask South Korea's military and security facilities, the ministry said.
Seoul will also make Google remove coordinate displays and impose "restrictions on the exposure" of South Korean territory on the global services of Google Maps and Google Earth.
Google argued that Seoul's objections unfairly restricted the company offering a full range of mapping services, such as public transit information, satellite maps and driving directions.
The homegrown Naver search engine -- which only uses government-supplied maps that camouflage sensitive installations -- is one of the domestic leaders in search and mapping services in South Korea.
