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    China Launches Its Answer to America's GPS Dominance

    By Alex Fitzpatrick | Mashable – Tue, Dec 27, 2011

    Officials at China's independent satellite navigation system announced Tuesday their GPS alternative is available to the public, reports the BBC.

    Named Beidou, Chinese for "compass," the system has been in development for more than a decade. China began work on Beidou in 2000 in order to become less dependent on the U.S.-owned Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) infrastructure.

    [More from Mashable: What Would You Call the iPad in China? [POLL]]

    Before launching Beidou, the Chinese relied on American GPS for military and domestic use. Should China have gotten involved in a military conflict with a U.S. ally, the United States could have blocked access to GPS, causing a disadvantage for the Chinese military. With Beidou, China now has its own system for warship navigation and missile targeting.

    China state media have stressed the commercial potential of the new system. Domestic GPS technology is a thriving market in the United States and Europe, and China expects to replicate that success.

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    Civilian users of the network will have geolocation accuracy of 10 meters and speed measurements accurate to .2 meters per second. The Chinese military will have access to more accurate data.

    SEE ALSO: First-Generation GPS [COMIC]

    The development of Baidou parallels the creation of GPS, which was available exclusively to the American military for the first 20 years of its existence. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton declared GPS to be a "dual-use system" in 1996. This paved the way for car and naval navigation, geolocation, geocaching and a plethora of other GPS applications. However, in the U.S. and elsewhere, the military still enjoys more accurate GPS data than civilians.

    Currently, Beidou uses 10 satellites. Coverage is limited to mainland China and nearby areas of Asia. The Chinese government plans to expand the system gradually, providing global coverage by 2020.

    Image courtesy of iStockphoto, enot-poloskun

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    16 comments

    • Russ
      Russ  •  5 mths ago
      Good luck with that! China can screw up a glass of milk!!!
      • 2012derrick
        2012derrick 5 mths ago
        can not be that dumb to have become a financial power as a nation. they dont NEED the U.S
      • my2centswrth
        my2centswrth 4 mths ago
        They just need our technology. Having money doesn't give you technology.
      • Justin
        Justin 4 mths ago
        Hmmm, didn't the last summer Olympics give you a taste of their technology and capabilities? You were not watching when they unrolled a football field size LCD screen or built the bird nest?
    • Carroll
      Carroll  •  5 mths ago
      Maybe the Iranians can't hack this one.
      • A Yahoo! User 5 mths ago
        unless they can read chinese
    • OOPS TRY AGAIN cause yaho ...
      OOPS TRY AGAIN cause yaho ...  •  5 mths ago
      In the event of a conflict it would have been cheaper just to take out the gps satellites ad have both sides on equal ground again. Oh yeah I forgot, unlike the usa china makes a trillion a year so can afford it's own gps.
      • my2centswrth
        my2centswrth 4 mths ago
        All they need is the technology to make them work. They'll backwards engineer a $59.00 TomTom for that.
    • Antonio
      Antonio  •  El Paso, Texas  •  5 mths ago
      Well if the US and rest of the world keep thinking that is China and they are going to fail, they need to take a look at history back in the 60's nobody wanted Japanese cars and quality probably was not best but they persevere and keep working on it. In the 90's Korean cars were not taken very seriously now they are posing a serious threat to the Japanese and American they also persevere. The lesson is they are patience and they might not get it right the first time but they will keep working on it while we laugh and don't see them coming. Stay alert Stay alive!
      • A Yahoo! User 5 mths ago
        history repeat itself
    • M
      M  •  4 mths ago
      Compass is zhinanzhen in chinese
    • last1out
      last1out  •  New York, New York  •  4 mths ago
      "Coverage is limited to mainland China and nearby areas of Asia."

      What good is GPS that only works in Asia? In what way would that help China`s army? Unless they plan to only fight other Asian countries. EPIC FAIL.(O_o)
    • G
      G  •  4 mths ago
      I want my own GPS system in space...to guide my spaceships...
    • Jesus Vicente D.
      Jesus Vicente D.  •  Manila, Philippines  •  5 mths ago
      Americans are getting increasingly jealous and insecure toward China. What a miserable lot.
      • my2centswrth
        my2centswrth 4 mths ago
        Jealous of what? Insecure about WHAT? Everything they have, they copied/stole from us, from VCRS to cell phones, from missile technology to aircraft designs, and now this yet untested GPS venture. If Bill Clinton had not supplied them with long range missile technology by sending some of our techies over there to help them (in exchange for regular Chinese cash deliveries to the White House), their missiles would still be spinning out of control and plunging into the sea after liftoff.

        Oh, yeah, I forgot to say "you're welcome" for the United States saving the Phillipines from Japan in WWII. What a miserable puke you are.
      • Intelligent Designer
        Intelligent Designer 4 mths ago
        How can China copied from something that works far better than the American GPS system?
      • kalzone
        kalzone 4 mths ago
        Yeah, we're jealous of their human rights record, their population manipulation,their thin layer of modernity etc etc. China will collapse under their own weighty need for dominance
    • Odin
      Odin  •  5 mths ago
      Like most Chinese products, it will work 'OK" for a week, then break..
      China... LOL
    • .
      .  •  Irvine, California  •  4 mths ago
      Good lets knock them out---- they did our spy sats.
    • Jim
      Jim  •  Wyoming, Minnesota  •  4 mths ago
      Clinton probably gave them our G P S tec also.
    • Bellissimo Pizza
      Bellissimo Pizza  •  Oakland, California  •  5 mths ago
      Good for China
    • expletive_xom
      expletive_xom  •  Surfside, California  •  5 mths ago
      thanks again Bill Clinton
    • Tony
      Tony  •  5 mths ago
      Hmm, yeah, they'll be dominant. Just like when their pirated knock-off software gave them the blue screen of death at the Beijing Olympics, for the rest of the world to see just how dependable knock-off technology really is. Cheaper second-gen is not always better, and I'm not thrilled with the concept of their military using something like that for targeting.
    • Tony
      Tony  •  Bethany, Oklahoma  •  5 mths ago
      Prepare to get lost!
    • wow
      wow  •  5 mths ago
      No way Chinese is going to be dominant: they are too civilized! Just look at how they treated Tibetians a few hundred years ago! They could have done the same as we did to the Indians!
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