Beidou, China’s GPS equivalent, is operational

Searching_ _ _ · Jan 3, 2012

In case you didn’t know it, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a service of the US government. The government makes it accessible to anyone, but at the end of the day it’s their toy and they can do what they want with the former military project. That might not be an issue for you when you are trying to figure out the fastest way to get to Aunt Mildred’s house, but if you were a leader in China, Russia, India, or the European Union it might be cause for concern. For this reason other countries (and in the case of the EU, groups of countries) are building their own satellite-based navigation systems. China’s, which is known as COMPASS or Beidou, has recently become operational.

Beidou, which translates to “Big Dipper”, will cover the southern Asia for the time being, but will expand outward to be a worldwide navigation system by 2020. At this point it’s composed of 10 satellites, out of a planned total of 35. For reference, the US’ GPS is an array of 32 satellites (at least 24 of which are always operational). At a given time a connection with four satellites is necessary in order to get accurate location data, and more satellites means benefits like better worldwide coverage and faster signal acquisition. The Russian equivalent, GLONASS, has 24 satellites.
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Beidou, China’s GPS equivalent, is operational - Geek.com

Daveski17 · Jan 3, 2012

The EU equivalent is called 'Galileo', I believe China has even invested in that.

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Beidou, China’s GPS equivalent, is operational

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Beidou, China’s GPS equivalent, is operational

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