“Open to core industries according to the principle”... Establishment of a nationwide integrated reference station network
(Beijing = Yonhap News) Correspondent Seongjo Jeong = Local media such as China Central Television (CCTV) and Global Times reported on the 4th that China has released integrated data from the reference station of its own satellite navigation system 'Beidou' (Big Dipper) to the market for the first time.
On this day, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China held the 'National Satellite Navigation Location Reference Station Network Service Data Rights Operation Promotion Meeting' in Beijing and began operating the public data service of the national reference station integrated network.
Beidou is a global satellite navigation system independently built and operated by China. It was developed by China with concentrated national capabilities as a counterpart to the U.S. location information system (GPS). From 2000 to 2020, the system was completed by launching a total of 55 satellites by investing more than 400 organizations and more than 300,000 scientists.
China has been confident that Beidou is capable of high-precision location tracking compared to GPS, and that it is more useful at three-dimensional intersections as it can confirm accurate altitude locations compared to existing GPS, which only confirmed latitude and longitude and had difficulty determining altitude. It is also said to have functions that surpass other satellite navigation systems, such as being able to send and receive text messages through Beidou even in places where there is no mobile communication network on the ground.
A satellite navigation reference station is a ground infrastructure that collects observation data and monitors signal quality. It provides spatiotemporal information for land planning, disaster early warning, construction, and urban governance.
In the meantime, in China, the standard bureau was built in a ‘individual battle’ style. As of the end of last year, there were about 33,000 reference bureaus across the country, but they belong to different ministries, local governments, and companies, so technical standards are not unified and observation data is not interchangeable, the China Science and Technology Daily reported.
To solve this problem, China's Ministry of Natural Resources has established a nationwide integrated network, and the Beidou standard stations thus created are currently installed in 7,569 locations across China (420 national-level standard stations, 3,293 provincial-level standard stations, and 3,856 coordinated standard stations).
The Ministry of Natural Resources explained that in the future, Beidou Reference Bureau data will be opened to key industries and market participants according to the principles of safety (security), controllability, high quality and efficiency.
Chen Ming, director of the Department of Basic Surveying at the Ministry of Natural Resources (manager level), said, "In the past, many industries had to build their own facilities, resulting in very high input costs, and continued investment in operation and maintenance was required thereafter. Through this opening, the application areas of Beidou's high-precision data service have been effectively expanded to include autonomous driving, low-altitude economy (industries using drones, etc.), urban regeneration, and precision governance."
The Global Times explained that as of last year, the total production of Beidou-related industries in China was 1.3323 trillion yuan (about 267 trillion won).
