An exhibitor from BeiDou Changsha in Hunan province displays an electric gun during an industry expo in Beijing. [Photo/China Daily]

Navigation system to play key role in building of administration center

China's self-developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System will see wider application in urban construction, as a State-owned enterprise plans to leverage the system to help build Beijing's subsidiary administrative center.

The move came after BeiDou's operating accuracy reached the centimeter-level and after a forecast that the output of China's navigation system and satellite location-based service market will reach 400 billion yuan ($58.8 billion) in 2020.

Beijing Enterprises Group Co Ltd, a major infrastructure builder in Beijing, said the company will use BeiDou to help accelerate the construction of Tongzhou district, which is designed to be the subsidiary administrative center of the capital.

"BeiDou, for instance, will be leveraged to help track construction vehicles and locate building sites," said Hou Zibo, general manager of Beijing Enterprises.

Beidou is the fourth navigation satellite system in the world, following the GPS system of the United States, the GLONASS system of Russia, and the Galileo system of the European Union.

The company signed a deal with the BDS Precise Service System on Monday to expand cooperation in building smart cities. The BDS Precise Service System was built by the Global Navigation Satellite System and the Location-based Services Association of China to promote the application of BeiDou in diverse sectors including the supply of electric power, water and intelligent transportation.

By using BeiDou to track gas pipelines, Beijing Gas, a unit of Beijing Enterprises, has managed to swiftly locate gas leaks before they cause serious damage.

Last week, China Satellite Navigation Office announced that BeiDou's operating accuracy reached the centimeter-level after the first batch of enhanced ground stations were constructed.

The move is part of China's broad efforts to boost the commercial application of BeiDou technologies. In 2016, the output of China's navigation system and satellite location-based service market－including sales and other associated economic activity－reached 211.8 billion yuan, up 22 percent year-on-year.

BeiDou accounted for around 70 percent of the nation's market share of chips, equipment, software, algorithms and other services directly related to satellite navigation in 2016.