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China’s GPS service Beidou officially launches

Categories: General
By: , IntoMobile
Friday, December 30th, 2011 at 1:38 AM
China's GPS service Beidou officially launches

When it comes to positioning systems, U.S. has GPS, Russia has Glonass and EU – Galileo. China is joining the race and has finally launched its own such system called Beidou.

According to a spokesman for the system, Beidou has started providing initial positioning, navigation and timing operational services to China and its surrounding areas. However, the coverage will expand soon with six more satellites set for launch in 2012 to cover most parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

The world’s most populous country started developing its positioning system in 2000 after deciding not to rely on Europe’s Galileo. So far, it [China] has launched 10 Beidou satellites, with the tenth being lifted into orbit earlier this month.

Beidou is reported to be compatible with all existing positioning systems…

Now call me a naive sucker, but can’t all countries agree and have a single positioning system which is governed by either UN or G8? That would make more sense, providing more accurate positioning (more satellites), while at the same time keeping costs down for all the parties involved…

[Via: CellularNews]

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Alfredo Raul Huerta Rupay

    Probably because they need to rely on them…China is not included in the g8. and russia is not in the g7…

  • Mirek

    No :)
    First of all it’s not for business, but for army. If there is conflict with USA, states will just switch off GPS for your country (army). That’s why Russia needs Glonas and EU needs Gallileo, the same in China.