China's independently developed Compass Navigation Satellite System (CNSS) has acquired area navigation capacity and will first be used for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Shanghai Morning Post reported from the NaviForum Shanghai 2007 press conference.

Soon the self-developed CNSS with similar functions to the Global Positioning System will be able to navigate tours. "Currently the CNSS has 5 navigation satellites and more will be launched in 2008," Ran Chengqi, vice director of the China Satellite Navigation Engineering Center said at the press conference.

The country established a trial compass navigation system in 2003 and this trial system could provide positioning, timing, and telegraph functions for China and the surrounding areas. It has been applied to transportation, fishery, exploration, and forest fire prevention; the subsequently established CNSS has improved function.

This system will be used to divert traffic and monitor game venues during the Beijing Olympic games. It can tell the driver the shortest way and find him the route by which he can most quickly get to his destination, considering the actual state of the roads.

It is predicted that the CNSS will be used in Shanghai before 2010.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, December 6, 2007)