China has completed its first national geoinformation survey, which collects basic information on the country's natural resources including location, range, and area, and man-made construction like roads and neighborhoods.-

Based on the 770-terabyte data gathered, China has a total of 7.56 million square kilometers of vegetation cover, while infrastructures occupy 153,000 square kilometers of land, the State Council Information Office said during a press briefing on Monday.

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The survey began in January 2013 and lasted for three years. Remote sensing satellites, drones, and 3D laser scanning were used to obtain the data that covers 92 percent of the country with the help of more than 50,000 people.

"Based on the results, making the most of the statistics is key," Li Weisen, deputy director of the National Administration of Survey, Mapping, and Geoinformation, said.

Before officially releasing, the results underwent months of analysis and approvals for publication were sought. Trained and certified personnel used aerial photography and on-site verification to provide the most accurate information and produce the quality of the survey. The precision is supposed to 99.7 percent, with resolution of one meter.

"The specific numbers help local authorities make more precise decisions to solve the problems," Cheng Pengfei, president of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, said.

Meanwhile, the data are expected to be used in streamlining regulations, precision targeting of poverty alleviation measures, real estate registration, control of illegal construction, pollution tracking, to name a few. In Beijing, Hebei, and Tianjing, for instance, surveyors concentrated on monitoring the sources of air pollution and expansion of urban areas.

The recent results will be available to public departments to allow them to improve services.

Tagschina, man-made construction, natural resources, geoinformation survey