Despite having to bear a crown of thorns being a closed economy, North Koreans now have Google Maps that offers them driving and walking directions. The irony, however, is that North Korea has stringent controls on internal movements of people and access to smartphones and Internet is restricted.
Moreover, a limited number of people have the luxury of owning private cars. Nevertheless, Google Maps will bring satellite navigation North Koreans' way via web and mobile apps. Users will be able to estimate travel time between destinations either by car or by walking, thanks to Google's database. However, only limited roads have been mapped out by the service.
"While the system appears to have data about many of the major roads in North Korea, it doesn't contain any information about border crossings," reports North Korea Tech. "Asking for routes to both Seoul and Beijing resulted in failure."
However, Google Maps enables users to plan a trip from capital city Pyongyang to the Hoeryong Concentration Camp. This journey will take approximately 9 hours 58 minutes by car and would be a 7-day hike on foot, provided you walk non-stop without any breaks.
Google Maps also shows the public transport system, but there's a catch.
"While Google Maps shows railway lines, tram lines in Pyongyang, the Pyongyang Metro and Sunan airport, there's no timetable data in the system so public transport searches also result in failure," reveals North Korea Tech.
For the uninitiated, North Korea opened up to the idea of mapping by Google in 2013.
"We encourage people from around the world to continue helping us improve the quality of these maps for everyone with Google Map Maker," revealed Google in Jan. 2013. "From this point forward, any further approved updates to the North Korean maps in Google Map Maker will also appear on Google Maps."
Even though Google Maps has made its way to North Korea, based on a report by 9to5Google, the app will, in all likelihood, only be accessible to "visitors" and "privileged" citizens.
