Does Google Maps work in China? What works instead, and why the map looks shifted

Google Maps is the first app most visitors open in a new city, and mainland China is where it lets them down. Two separate things go wrong. Google is blocked on Chinese networks, so the app often won’t load at all. And even when it does, China’s mapping rules mean its street map is drawn a few hundred metres away from where GPS says you are.

Here’s what works on each kind of connection, how big the shift really is (we calculated it for ten cities), and which map app to set up before you fly.

Does Google Maps work in China?

Not on Chinese networks. The UK government’s travel advice for China says that some services are permanently blocked, including Google, so on a Chinese SIM card or on hotel, café or airport Wi-Fi the app won’t load maps or search.

It’s different in Hong Kong and Macau. Their internet isn’t blocked in the same way, and mainland mapping rules don’t apply there, so Google Maps works as it does at home.

Can I use Google Maps with roaming or an eSIM?

Often, yes. With roaming on your home SIM, your data is usually routed back through your own operator’s network, so blocked services can load as they would at home. Many travel eSIMs work the same way: Holafly, for example, says its eSIM connects outside China’s network, so blocked apps work. It depends on the provider, so check before you buy rather than after you land.

A note on VPNs. The UK’s travel advice says China’s cybersecurity laws require online products and services such as VPNs to be licensed by the Chinese government. Plenty of visitors use them, but we don’t recommend relying on one for something as basic as finding your hotel.

For the rest of the phone set-up, including keeping your home number for bank codes, see how to prepare your phone for international travel.

Why is Google Maps shifted in China?

Because of the law. Private surveying and mapping has been illegal in mainland China since 2002, and maps published there must use an official coordinate system called GCJ-02. It moves every point by a varying amount compared with the WGS-84 system that GPS uses.

In Google Maps, the street map of mainland China is drawn in GCJ-02, but the satellite photos are not. So your phone’s GPS position lines up with the satellite view but not with the street map. That’s why travellers describe their blue dot sitting on a parallel street or across a river.

To put a number on it, we took the published coordinates of 21 well-known places and ran them through the public, open-source version of the GCJ-02 formula. In every mainland city we checked, the map is moved between 340 and 620 metres:

Five hundred metres is six or seven minutes’ walk, or the wrong side of a big road junction. It also explains a problem people rarely connect to maps: a pin or coordinates copied from one app can land in the wrong place in another. If you take a location from a GPS-based source, such as a photo’s location or a pin from a blog, and paste it into a Chinese map app, it can land about half a kilometre away.

Download our calculation: the shift at 21 places as a CSV, with each place’s GPS and GCJ-02 coordinates. The formula is a public reconstruction, so treat the figures as accurate to a few metres rather than exact.

What is the best map app for China?

Amap, also called Gaode, for most visitors, and Apple Maps if you have an iPhone and want to keep things simple. Both use Chinese map data, so the blue dot matches the map, and both work without a VPN.

Amicly’s China kit, still a draft until we finish reviewing it, makes the same call: install Amap at home, switch it to English and save your hotel in it before you go.

How do I set up Amap before I go?

Do it at home, on Wi-Fi, before you fly:

1. Install AMap Global from your phone’s app store.
2. Switch the language to English in the settings.
3. Create an account with your email if you want offline maps, then download the cities you’re visiting.
4. Search for your hotel and save it. Copy its address in Chinese characters too, so you can show it to a taxi driver.
5. Practise one route, such as the airport to your hotel by metro, so you know where the transit options are in the app.

If you’ll pay with your phone, set that up at home too. Our guide to using Alipay as a tourist covers it, including the fee above ¥200.

Can I download Google Maps offline for China?

Don’t count on it. Google’s help page says you can’t download offline maps in some countries or regions, for reasons including contractual limits and address formats. It doesn’t say which, and travellers report mixed results for China. Even where a download works, Google says transit, cycling and walking directions aren’t available offline, and the map would still be shifted. Download Amap’s offline cities instead.

Is Google Maps out of date in China?

Probably in places, but we can’t prove it, and nor can anyone we found. Every guide says Google’s mainland data is stale, but none of them shows a dated example. What is certain is that Google Maps can’t give you a location you can trust on the mainland, because of the shift. That alone is a reason to navigate with a Chinese map app, whatever the state of the listings.

Questions about maps in China

Does Apple Maps work in China? Yes, without a VPN. In mainland China it uses Amap’s map data, so the map and your position line up.

Does Google Maps work in Hong Kong? Yes, normally, and in Macau too. Mainland mapping rules don’t apply there.

Is Amap in English? Yes. Amap launched an English version for international visitors in January 2025 and added 14 more languages in July 2025.

Can I use Google Maps to plan before I go? Yes, for a rough idea of distances and areas. Just don’t copy coordinates from Google’s satellite view into a Chinese app, and check your plan in Amap before you rely on it.

What about an itinerary from an AI tool? Check every place in Amap before you rely on it, because names and locations in China are where AI plans most often go wrong. Our guide on whether you can trust an AI travel itinerary has a ten-minute check.

Getting ready for China? Amicly’s China kit lists the apps to set up at home, Amap included, with a checklist that works offline.