The Xinjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping has revealed that they detained a U.S. citizen after he was caught using two GPS devices to map out cities in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The detention happened back on January 31, 2012.  Chinese officials say he collected and stored over 90,000 geographic coordinates using his GPS receivers.

Officials with Xinjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping were tipped off in August 2011, after several people told them they had spotted a U.S. citizen using GPSs around a local military base.

China’s National Administration Bureau of Surveying and Mapping confirmed the man did not have permission to do any GPS mapping of China.  The U.S. citizen claimed he was establishing routes for tourists from the United States!