In the Rogue One film, Galen Erso sent a message to Saw Gerrera and the rebels, in which he has revealed that the Death Star has a serious backdoor vulnerability: shoot a torpedo into the reactor and the whole Death Star will get overloaded and explode. A New Hope proved that Galen was right: Luke shot the torpedo and indeed the Death Star exploded.
But Galen also instructed the rebels that they should get the plans of the Death Star from the imperial citadel on Scarif. Why was this necessary? Wouldn't it have been better if Galen told in the same message which hole on the Death Star it is where the rebels have to shoot the torpedo to the reactor, and just ignore the plans altogether? Getting the plans from an imperial complex was dangerous, and Galen would surely have anticipated that danger.
Answer
According to the official novelization by Alexander Freed, he didn't know how to get the explosion to the reactor, only that it needs to be exploded:
Galen snapped back into focus, no longer hesitant or soft. “Saw, the reactor system, that’s the key. That’s the place I’ve laid my trap. It’s unstable, so one blast to any part of it will destroy the entire station.”
...
“You’ll need the plans, the structural plans, to find your way, but they exist. Sabotage from the inside is impossible: Krennic is too paranoid. But I’ve thought about this, Saw, prepared everything for you I could.”
And he clearly didn't have access to engineering plans to the whole station himself, being just in charge of the weapon. He knew where plans existed but didn't have access himself (else, he'd have said Eadu has them too, or as you said, would have sent them with the pilot):
...
“I know there’s at least one complete engineering archive in the data vault at the Citadel Tower on Scarif. Use what I’ve told you, run the analysis, and you’ll be able to plan your attack. Any pressurized explosion to the reactor module will set off a chain reaction that will-”
(Chapter 6)
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