China is about to grant licenses to 18 domestic companies for providing Internet mapping services in China, with a number of applications from foreign vendors still being considered.

The 18 companies were selected from about 30 applicants, and a few applications from eligible foreign firms are still under examination, said the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

The bureau launched a regulation last month requiring all companies providing online mapping and location services in China to apply for approval, and to avoid disclosure of state secrets and uncertified publishing of maps online.

Applicants are required to keep servers for map-data storing inside the country and have no record of information leakage in any form in the past three years.

The total revenue of China's online map market rose from 245 million yuan ($36 million) in 2008 to 330 million yuan ($48 million) last year, said statistics from Analysys International.