Geospatial Data Opening Gives Intelligent Driving and Embodied AI a New Foundation

On the morning of Sept 22, the State Council Information Office held a press conference in its "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" series to brief on promoting the safe, efficient, and sustainable use of natural resources. A relevant official said that the geographic information industry is a strategic emerging industry and that the number of entities in the sector has reached 270,000.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will deepen the application of 3D Realistic China and tackle key technologies in spatiotemporal intelligence. It will promote authorized operation of public data resources such as the satellite navigation positioning base station network and Tianditu, accelerate the release of the value of geographic information data elements, advance large-scale BeiDou applications, empower the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries and quality-efficiency improvement of the real economy, and better support emerging and future industries including intelligent driving, low-altitude economy, and embodied intelligence.

3D Realistic China and spatiotemporal intelligence are foundational capabilities. 3D Realistic China digitizes the physical world into a three-dimensional spatial base, while spatiotemporal intelligence turns location and time information into computable and callable capabilities. For intelligent driving and embodied intelligence, these two are underlying infrastructure. Intelligent driving needs high-precision maps and real-time positioning. Embodied intelligence needs robots to know where they are, what surrounds them, and how to move in physical space.

The satellite navigation positioning base station network provides centimeter-level or even millimeter-level positioning accuracy, and Tianditu provides a public service entry point for geographic information data. Authorized operation of these public data resources means enterprises can obtain geographic information data in a more compliant and lower-cost manner, without having to collect and build databases themselves. The geographic information industry has already reached 270,000 entities, a scale that indicates the industry itself is relatively mature.

Large-scale BeiDou application was one of the key points mentioned at the press conference. The BeiDou system provides positioning, navigation, and timing services. In scenarios such as intelligent driving, low-altitude economy, and embodied intelligence, all require the position and time benchmarks provided by BeiDou. Qianxun Position CEO Chen Jinpei previously proposed that a spatiotemporal intelligent network built on BeiDou will become the third network after the computing network and the communication network. Its services cover about 70 million smartphones, more than 5 million intelligent connected vehicles, nearly 700,000 low-altitude aircraft, and over 80,000 embodied intelligence terminals. Policy-level promotion of large-scale BeiDou application corresponds to industry-level demand.

The press conference also mentioned accelerating the release of the value of geographic information data elements. In the past, geographic information data was scattered among government departments and public institutions, and enterprises faced high thresholds and long processes to obtain it. Promoting authorized operation of public data resources is establishing a mechanism for such data to flow to the market in a compliant way and be used by intelligent driving and embodied intelligence companies.

For embodied intelligence, geographic information data is one of the foundations for training and deployment. Robots navigating, avoiding obstacles, and planning paths in real environments need to know spatial information such as buildings, roads, and terrain. If 3D Realistic China is completed and opened, it will provide a unified spatial base for all companies working on spatial intelligence, so that each company does not have to collect and model from scratch.

Such a mechanism matters because geospatial data is costly to collect and subject to complex regulatory requirements. A unified authorized operation approach can reduce duplicated collection efforts, improve data quality, and shorten the time needed for companies to bring products to market. For spatial intelligence companies, access to authoritative and up-to-date data is critical for safe and reliable operation.

Ultimately, the policy aims to turn geographic information data into a factor of production that supports innovation. By combining BeiDou's positioning and timing capabilities with 3D Realistic China's spatial base, China is building a data infrastructure for intelligent driving, low-altitude economy, and embodied intelligence. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will see these foundations move from pilot projects to wider industrial application.