The Ministry of Education recently released its list of exemplary projects under the 2025 National Language Technology Empowerment Initiative for Key Sectors, selecting the Beijing Bilingual Geographic Information Platform—jointly developed by the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping and GTCOM Technology Corporation—as a featured innovation case. Grounded in surveying and mapping geospatial technologies and empowered by language technologies, the platform provides comprehensive English-language digital maps of the entire municipality, thematic maps tailored to the high-frequency needs of foreign nationals, and bilingual Chinese-English printed maps of Beijing, while also featuring a continuously upgraded Beijing English Map section on MapWorld·Beijing. From its pilot launch to full-scale optimization, the platform has steadily addressed gaps in multilingual geographic information services, enhancing the experience of foreign nationals living, traveling, and exploring the city, strengthening the geospatial foundation for Beijing’s development as an international exchange center, and establishing a replicable and scalable “Beijing model” for nationwide services.
Addressing Practical Needs to Support Internationalized Services
As China’s capital and an international exchange center, high-quality services for foreign nationals are essential not only to the daily lives of both residents and overseas visitors, but also to showcasing the country’s image and enhancing the city’s global influence. Geographic information forms the spatial foundation of urban public services, while standardized and user-friendly bilingual maps are indispensable tools for foreign nationals working, traveling and sightseeing in Beijing.
Previously, Beijing’s multilingual mapping services faced several challenges, including inconsistent English map labeling, insufficient information provided for foreign nationals, a lack of bilingual map products, and the absence of a unified mapping platform to support the international communication of Beijing’s place names.
To address these challenges, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, together with relevant departments, developed a bilingual geographic information platform, with the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping taking the lead. Based on the city’s development needs, the project established an end-to-end workflow covering rule development, data processing, map production, and platform services, creating an authoritative, accurate and user-friendly bilingual geographic information service system.
In January 2025, the English version of the Beijing map was officially launched on MapWorld·Beijing for trial operation, opening services to both the general public and foreign nationals and marking a major step toward standardized multilingual geographic information services. Following the 2026 upgrade, the platform further enriched its content and expanded its service scenarios, fully meeting the diverse needs of foreign users.
Technology Empowered by Standards to Build an End-to-End Service System
The project is built around four key pillars: standards-based governance, scenario-oriented design, diversified product offerings, and intelligent technologies, driving deep integration between surveying and mapping technologies and language technologies to establish a comprehensive bilingual geographic information service system.
Establishing unified translation standards to provide authoritative bilingual maps. To address the long-standing issue of inconsistent English map labeling, the project developed the Rules for English Map Labeling in Beijing in accordance with the principles of legal compliance, respect for history, and service orientation. The rules provide classified and tiered guidance for translating place names, public service facilities, historic and cultural sites, and other map labels. They reconcile national language standards, historically established translations, on-site English signage, and the reading habits of foreign users, while standardizing Romanized spellings, historical place-name translations, and English signage. This provides a unified benchmark for the English expression of Beijing’s extensive geographic information and enables standardized place names to serve as an important vehicle for telling Beijing’s story and supporting international communication.
Focusing on practical scenarios to deliver user-centered services for foreign nationals. The platform’s core database covers administrative divisions, natural features, transportation, government agencies, international organizations, education and culture, healthcare, sports and recreation, accommodation, and commercial facilities, providing comprehensive coverage of the city’s fundamental spatial information. In response to the most common needs of foreign users, the platform also offers thematic information on history and culture, foreign currency exchange, departure tax refunds, document processing, SIM card services, transportation cards, self-driving services, tourist attractions, shopping, and dining, supporting a full range of scenarios covering travel, accommodation, sightseeing, shopping, and administrative services. These carefully designed features upgrade the platform from a basic geographic information service to a personalized service platform, making it easier for foreign nationals to work, travel, and enjoy their stay in Beijing.
Expanding the product portfolio to provide comprehensive service coverage. The platform has established an integrated product ecosystem combining online digital maps and offline printed maps, with all products sharing the same data source, unified standards, and complementary functions. Online, the platform provides a dedicated English portal through MapWorld·Beijing, supporting bilingual keyword search, fuzzy search, and multi-scale map switching. The platform records an average of 125 million tile requests per day. Standardized APIs are also available to support government platforms, commercial mapping services, and lifestyle applications with bilingual geographic information. Offline, the project has produced bilingual Chinese-English printed maps at three scales—the municipality, the urban area, and the Capital Core Functional Area. These are Beijing’s first systematically compiled large-format English maps, presenting the capital’s spatial layout, administrative divisions, World Heritage sites, the relationship between the Capital Core Area and the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, and the distribution of historic and cultural resources in the old city. They also highlight key destinations frequently visited by foreign nationals, including embassy districts, airports, railway stations, and major tourist attractions, while prominently featuring the Beijing Central Axis and other elements of Beijing’s historic and cultural heritage. Electronic versions of the printed maps are available for free download, serving as a distinctive showcase of the capital’s image.
Harnessing intelligent technologies to ensure efficient and accurate data updates. The project team overcame a range of technical challenges, including multi-source data integration, intelligent feature generalization, and adaptive English label placement. By applying innovative character-, geometry-, and topology-based matching algorithms, the team integrated data from multiple sources to establish a comprehensive bilingual geographic information database featuring timely updates and rich content, enabling rapid integrated map production. The project has secured multiple intellectual property rights, including invention patents and software copyrights, providing strong technical support for the continuous iteration and upgrading of its bilingual map products.
Expanding Service Scenarios to Showcase Beijing’s International Image
Since its launch, the Beijing Bilingual Geographic Information Platform has operated smoothly and delivered extensive services, achieving notable results in public services, cultural communication, and industry demonstration, while translating technological innovation into tangible public benefits.
In terms of public services, the platform has registered 40,000 users, supports 2,000 active applications, and records more than 2.71 million annual visits to its English map tiles. Its standardized bilingual geographic information services have effectively overcome language barriers, significantly improving convenience for foreign nationals traveling, accessing services, and exploring the city, while contributing to a more internationalized living and business environment in Beijing. The project has been widely covered by major media outlets including People’s Daily Online, Xinhua News Agency, Beijing Daily, and Beijing Youth Daily, further enhancing Beijing’s international communication capacity and global visibility.
In terms of cultural communication, the three bilingual printed maps at different scales systematically present Beijing’s rich historical and cultural resources, vividly showcasing iconic features such as the Beijing Central Axis, World Heritage sites, and the historic hutongs. They have become an important medium for presenting the cultural heritage of the ancient capital alongside the vitality of a modern metropolis, helping bring Beijing’s history and culture to audiences around the world.
From an industry perspective, the project’s integrated model combining language technologies and surveying and mapping geospatial technologies provides a mature blueprint for multilingual mapping services nationwide. The Rules for English Map Labeling in Beijing have advanced the standardization and regulation of multilingual services in the surveying and mapping sector, providing strong support for the implementation of the national strategies of Building China into a Strong Language Service Nation and Digital China, while demonstrating the leading role of technological innovation in the fields of natural resources and surveying and mapping.
A Replicable Model with Broad Prospects for Future Development
Featuring one unified standard, one integrated platform, and a diversified product portfolio, the project has established a mature, practical development model with broad application value and significant potential for future upgrades.
Horizontally, the platform’s experience can be readily replicated in other cities with strong international exchange functions, helping them strengthen multilingual geographic information services. Its technical framework can also support the Belt and Road Initiative by providing customized multilingual geographic information services for overseas industrial parks and economic and trade cooperation zones, contributing to China’s high-standard opening-up.
In terms of technological advancement, the platform will continue embracing artificial intelligence by exploring new intelligent applications. Future plans include integrating large language models to enable intelligent translation of geographic information labels and automatic annotation of historical and cultural background information. It will also gradually expand multilingual services and upgrade multimodal search capabilities incorporating voice and image recognition, ultimately creating a fully intelligent, multilingual geographic information service system.
In terms of application expansion, the platform will deepen cross-departmental collaboration, proactively connect with the national emergency language service system, and provide multilingual geographic information support for major events such as international competitions and emergency rescue operations. It will also strengthen data sharing with departments responsible for culture and tourism, commerce, and foreign affairs to build an integrated platform combining multilingual geographic information and comprehensive services for foreign nationals, further enhancing Beijing’s capacity as an international exchange center.
The project’s selection as a national innovation case fully recognizes Beijing’s achievements in advancing bilingual geographic information services and supporting the city’s international development. According to the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping, the Institute will take this opportunity to further improve the platform, enrich its products, deepen technological innovation, and continue promoting the integration of language technologies with surveying and mapping geospatial technologies. Leveraging accurate spatial data and high-quality bilingual services, it will contribute to Beijing’s development into a world-class harmonious and livable city while continuing to offer the “Beijing model” for the international development of China’s natural resources and surveying and mapping industries.
