China launches dominance of GPS with BeiDou satellites

China's BeiDou satellite network is now over 80% complete and is about to disrupt US GPS dominance for 40 years.

Each of your Lyft rides, KOM Strava and wake up alarms are in the hands of the US Air Force. This is because the United States owns the entire GPS network since the launch of the first satellite by the military in 1978.

And until now, this network was the largest and most reliable satellite positioning system on Earth. But this month, China has launched three more satellites into orbit, bringing its growing BeiDou network to more than 40 people. This makes it larger than the American GPS network (31) and the Russian GLONASS system (24).

For now, the BeiDou system serves China and its neighbors. But Chinese President Xi Jinping said it would serve the entire world by 2020. Chinese authorities have claimed that BeiDou would be more than 100 times more accurate than GPS.

"It will be a change of 10 meters, in decimetres, in centimeters," said Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Bureau, to the Chinese media. "For example, if we call a taxi with such precision, it is not necessary to tell the driver where we are, because the car will arrive directly at our feet."

BeiDou vs. GPS

Once completed, the business will not be a small investment. According to the Straits Times, the BeiDou project will cost about $ 12 billion. So why invest so much time and money: China launched the BeiDou project nearly 20 years ago, especially when GPS is so freely available?

Remember that the GPS belongs to the US Army. And this makes the GPS network a huge advantage in times of conflict. Warships and aircraft rely heavily on these positioning systems. BeiDou will therefore give China a certain weight and a certain autonomy.

But the satellite navigation market is also lucrative. Grand View Research estimates that by 2025, the size of the GPS market will be close to $ 150 billion. And if BeiDou proves more accurate, it would mean big income.

It's not just speculation; The Chinese chip maker NavInfo, which provides navigation technologies to Tesla and BMW, is expecting a demand for 15 million chips related to BeiDou by 2020, according to Bloomberg. And massive smartphone companies such as Qualcomm, Samsung and Huawei support BeiDou in addition to GPS.

In total, China expects its satellite navigation activities to exceed $ 57 billion by 2020, according to Xinhua.

Satellite navigation options

So what will be the impact on end users, such as hikers, Strava athletes and others? While the way BeiDou is going to upset the satellite navigation industry for consumers is not entirely clear, it could be a boon.

Earlier this month, major countries convened for the 13th meeting of the United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) in China. Representatives from the United States, China, Russia and the EU – who are building the Galileo satellite positioning network – discussed how systems can work together.

According to a column of the website of the BeiDou satellite navigation system, the representatives issued a joint statement calling the "main suppliers [to] further improve systems compatibility, interoperability, technological innovation, transparency of services, as well as cooperation and exchanges. "

If this happens, adventurers may discover the most complete and accurate positioning systems to date. Of course, global tensions can hinder cooperation in systems closely related to military operations.