China's Beidou navigation service platform begins trial operations

CHONGQING -- China's national Beidou high-precision navigation and positioning service platform has entered trial operation, representing new progress in the country's indigenous satellite navigation capabilities, the National Geomatics Center of China revealed in Chongqing on Thursday.

Developed under the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the platform integrates satellite navigation and positioning base stations nationwide within the natural resources system, injecting new impetus into the development of the digital economy.

This initiative consolidates more than 3,300 base stations into a unified network, offering centralized management of station resources.

The network provides seamless, high-precision positioning services across the country, delivering real-time, accurate and reliable navigation for sectors including public welfare mapping, resource surveying, intelligent transportation, autonomous driving, precision agriculture and social governance.

The service is available both online and offline. Online, it offers real-time observation data and enhanced positioning services. Offline, the platform delivers coordinate results, post-event observation data files, and related products.

The Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was initiated in 1994. The construction of BDS-1 and BDS-2 was completed in 2000 and 2012, respectively. When BDS-3 was completed and put into service on July 31, 2020, China became the third country to have an independent global navigation satellite system.