File photo of a model of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Photo: Xinhua

China has for the first time opened its national BeiDou satellite navigation reference station network data to the public, marking a significant step in sharing high-precision space-time information, state broadcaster CCTV News reported on Friday.

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) announced on Friday that service data from the country's integrated network of satellite navigation and positioning reference stations had been formally authorized for commercial operation. It marked the first time that the national "one-network" data from BeiDou reference stations had been made available to the public.

Under the principles of security, controllability, high quality and efficiency, the data will be opened to key industries and market players, allowing public data from the reference stations to circulate in compliance with regulations and fully unleash the economic and social value of space-time data, according to the MNR.

"In the past, many industries had to build their own stations, incurring huge costs, and continuous investment was needed for maintenance. With this sharing and opening of data, we have effectively expanded the application scenarios for BeiDou high-precision data, such as autonomous driving, the low-altitude economy, and urban renewal and refined governance," Chen Ming, an official with the Department of Land Surveying and Mapping at the MNR, was quoted by CCTV News as saying.

Satellite navigation and positioning reference stations are the ground-based infrastructure that enables BeiDou to deliver high-precision positioning services.

According to the latest data, the national network of BeiDou reference stations has now expanded to 7,569 stations, covering the entire country. These stations provide stable and accurate space-time information support for land planning, disaster early warning, engineering construction, urban governance, and many other fields.

According to the official WeChat account of the GNSS and LBS Association of China (GLAC), the national "one-network" includes 420 national-level stations, 3,293 provincial stations, and 3,856 coordination stations.

The sharing of the data will assist these industries and significantly boost the large-scale application of the BeiDou satellite system, the GLAC said.

Wang Bo, a satellite navigation system expert with the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times on Friday that the data from the national "one-network" will provide reliable space-time information for various industries, saving them the trouble of building and maintaining their own stations.

The total output of China's BeiDou space-time industry expanded to 1.3323 trillion yuan ($186.5 billion) in 2025. Of this, the satellite navigation industry, serving as the foundation of the BeiDou space-time sector, reached 629 billion yuan, up 9.24 percent year-on-year, demonstrating strong resilience and significant growth potential, according to the latest edition of the annual white paper on China's BeiDou Space-time Industry Development released by the GLAC in May.