A homegrown mapping core technology has been developed in South Korea to counter location services dominated by global big tech companies such as Google and Apple.
KAIST said Monday that a research team led by Professor Han Dong-soo of the School of Computing developed core technology to build a nationwide Wi-Fi radio map — a signal fingerprint map — by combining Wi-Fi signals with real address data. The team also developed key technologies to implement precision location infrastructure based on the core technology.
The breakthrough lies in leveraging Wi-Fi signals that smartphones collect in everyday use. The system automatically combines Wi-Fi signals with actual address information of each location to create a unique "signal pattern map," or signal fingerprint, for specific places.
Once sufficient radio map data accumulates, precise location recognition becomes possible anywhere in the country without large-scale equipment or additional infrastructure. The system's accuracy improves continuously as more data is collected. It also offers high accuracy in indoor spaces, underground areas and dense high-rise districts where GPS signals are weak.
Currently, a handful of global platform companies including Google and Apple dominate the accumulation and management of location data worldwide. In this context, establishing an independent foundation to build and manage a national-level radio map tailored to domestic conditions carries significant implications.
The importance of securing data sovereignty has grown particularly after recent controversy over the overseas transfer of "1:5,000 precision maps," which are national core spatial datasets containing detailed information on buildings and roads. "The technology developed by our research team will serve as an alternative to realize 'location sovereignty' by reducing dependence on global big tech," KAIST said.
The newly developed technology is also expected to find diverse applications in future industries including emergency rescue, financial fraud prevention, autonomous driving and smart logistics.
The researchers explained that building a city-level radio map could significantly reduce location errors — previously reaching hundreds of meters — in emergency rescue situations such as missing person searches, helping secure the critical golden time. When applied as "location-based authentication" technology that enables payments only at specific physical locations, the system could also prevent identity theft and unauthorized remote transactions.
"Building a national-level radio map like this is difficult for any single company to undertake alone, so public-private joint infrastructure development is needed with the government at the center, in cooperation with telecom carriers, platform companies and research institutions," Professor Han said. "Location infrastructure is a core asset directly tied to national data sovereignty, going beyond a mere convenience technology. Now is the time for the government, telecom carriers and platform companies to cooperate in building an independent national location infrastructure."