Transport Ministry rolls out long-term roadmap for Beidou system

China has been expanding the application of its home-grown Beidou Navigation Satellite System, which has so far been widely used in the country's transportation sector, according to an official from the Ministry of Transport.

The ministry has rolled out a mid- to long-term roadmap to further promote the application of Beidou in the country's railway, highway, waterway, civil aviation and postal services, said ministry spokesman Sun Wenjian at a news conference on Thursday.

The ministry will scale up the promotion of the Beidou navigation satellite system to put development of the transportation industry in sync with the system's progress and to provide the public with more extensive, more integrated and more intelligent positioning and navigation services, he added.

Sun noted over the past few years, over 6.6 million domestic vehicles nationwide and 51,000 postal services or courier companies' vehicles have installed or become compatible with the Beidou system.

The system also has been installed in 300 general aviation aircraft, 1,356 ships and the country's domestically-manufactured commercial airplanes, he said.

The transport authority also beefed up the global use of Beidou by including it into an international satellite-based search and rescue system, he said, adding that China has been striving to promote Beidou to more international organizations, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization.

China launched the last satellite of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System on Tuesday, marking the completion of the deployment of its own global navigation system. The system began providing services in China in 2000 and surrounding regions in Asia-Pacific in 2012.

Beidou is one of four global navigation satellite systems in the world. The other three are GPS in the United States, Galileo in the European Union, and GLONASS in Russia.