Digital economy boosts China's geospatial industry

China's geospatial industry is approaching world-class standards, driven by the burgeoning digital economy, according to a recent industry report.

The report, released on Wednesday by the China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences, said the industry's gross value added reached 811.1 billion yuan ($113.86 billion) last year, up 4.2 percent year-on-year.

It said the industry is forming a nearly complete value chain.

The geospatial industry encompasses the collection, storage, processing and analysis of location-based data using modern tools by government bodies, companies, social organizations and academic institutions.

According to the report, cutting-edge technologies in the geospatial sector are being increasingly applied in various fields, including academia, manufacturing and the energy and transportation sectors. Such advances have also fostered the development of new sectors such as the commercial space industry and autonomous vehicle services.

By late June, approximately 223,000 registered organizations, institutes and companies had been involved in the geospatial industry, employing over 4 million people, according to the report. The industry, recognized as a core component of the digital economy, maintained fast growth last year, with significant innovations in web map services, positioning, commercial satellite services and surveying equipment manufacturing.

The report noted that by the end of last year, China had 443 civil-use satellites in orbit and over 323 commercial remote sensing satellites, enhancing data-capture capabilities and providing diversified data.

The development of the geospatial industry also supports smart manufacturing and the operation of smart cities. Domestic geospatial companies provide more than 580 billion positioning services daily, with smartphones nationwide potentially accessing hundreds of location or navigation services each day.

Zhou Chenghu, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Central Television that China has made substantial advances in academic research and innovation in the geospatial field, with technologies being increasingly applied in various sectors. He added that the Beidou Navigation Satellite System has made the country's real-time location services among the best in the world.