China's BeiDou, A GPS Rival, Powers Over 1 Trillion Daily Location Checks
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China's BeiDou satellite system processes over 1 trillion location checks daily, powering its tech-driven economy and supporting 288 million smartphones. Competing with GPS and others, it serves over 120 countries and generated 575.8 billion yuan in 2024.
China's BeiDou satellite system is now powering billions of location checks daily and backing a growing chunk of the country's tech-driven economy, new data shows.
Named after the seven northern stars used for ancient navigation, the homegrown BeiDou network is compatible with 288 million smartphones across China, mainly from domestic brands like Huawei and Xiaomi. It processes more than 1 trillion location checks every day.
BeiDou was designed to compete with the US GPS (Global Positioning System), Russia's GLONASS, and the European Union's Galileo navigation systems.
Launched 30 years ago with its first satellite, BeiDou has grown into a major player in global navigation. In 2024, it generated an economic output of 575.8 billion yuan (about Rs 6.65 lakh crore), marking a 7.39 per cent increase over the previous year, the GNSS and LBS Association of China reported on Sunday.
Started in the 1990s, the BeiDou system now powers everything from military operations and drones to smartphone navigation and disaster response. It includes around 30 satellites, offering global coverage since 2018. The network is already being used in over 120 countries, including Pakistan and Thailand.
To meet growing demand, BeiDou is now compatible not just with phones and car systems but also with wearables, drones, electric bikes, and even robots, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.
"America's GPS in China is now either not supported on some domestically made devices or deliberately not used due to security reasons, especially when a government agency, state-owned enterprise or military unit needs navigation services or extra-precise mapping," said an academic at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, as per The South China Morning Post.
BeiDou is also upgrading its coverage and improving signal speed, while GPS faces tighter controls in China due to national security concerns.
Leading apps like Baidu Maps and Amap said they relied on BeiDou to guide users through a combined 4 billion km of travel daily.
"Foreign companies face certain restrictions on collecting high-precision mapping data in China, but many smartphones like iPhones support both GPS and BeiDou, automatically selecting the best signal," he added.
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