Chinese authorities mobilized nearly 15,000 people to conduct more than 2,200 law-enforcement operations involved in a nationwide crackdown on illegal surveying and mapping last year, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping said Tuesday.

The crackdown conducted by surveying and mapping authorities across the country has improved order in the market for geographic information and effectively safeguarded national security and interests, the bureau said in a statement.

The bureau also listed ten major cases of illegal surveying and mapping last year.

One case involved a Japanese national who was caught surveying and mapping without Chinese government approval, an act which is against Chinese law, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Jan. 31 to Feb. 18 in 2010.

The Japanese national used a GPS receiver to collect information on 598 geographic coordinates in the name of sightseeing and conducting environmental inspection. Of these coordinates, 588 were within Xinjiang, including 85 within the Tacheng Military Zone, according to the statement.

Local authorities fined the Japanese national and confiscated relevant surveying devices and results.

The other nine major cases mostly involved local companies or institutions publicizing maps without government approval, destroying survey marks, or conducting surveying and mapping without sound qualifications.

The bureau said in the statement that the central government will continue to crack down on illegal surveying and mapping and speed up the development of supportive policies to boost the market.