China launches satellite navigation, positioning system

China on Sunday launched a national satellite navigation and positioning system which will provide positioning service to transportation, emergency medical rescue and city planning and management. It is the largest in the country and boasts the widest coverage, officials said.

Li Weisen, deputy director of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geo-information, said that the system consists of 2,700 base stations, a national database centre and 30 provincial level database centres.

The system, featuring faster speed, higher accuracy and wider coverage, will be compatible with other satellite navigation systems, such as the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and Global Position System (GPS), Li said.

According to the administration, the system is able to provide positioning service to transportation, emergency medical rescue and city planning and management.

Wang Li, chairman of China Satellite Navigation System Committee China's GPS is expected to be ready by 2020 with constellation of satellites. He said China will launch some 18 Beidou navigation satellites by 2018. Six to eight Beidou satellites will be sent into orbit in the second half this year. Till last year China had a constellation of 32 satellites for the navigation system.

Beidou satellite navigation system can provide services for countries along the Belt and Road Initiative by 2018, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.

By 2020, the Beidou satellites will form a complete global satellite navigation system, Wang added.