While the United States’ GPS system was the first complete navigation constellation in the world and has provided millions of people with location information with increasing levels of accuracy, it is by far the only system available. I write a lot about Galileo and GLONASS–the two more popular GPS alternatives–but there are countless other countries that have their own regional satellites or partially-finished programs as well. And while GPS is still the most widely used system in many parts of the world, it’s a no-brainer that the more satellites a unit can see, the more accurate the positioning will be.
There are a handful of units that utilize both GPS and GLONASS–the only two fully completed worldwide constellations–and the accuracy is greatly improved. Just imagine if Galileo, once completed, was also incorporated. But, while Europe’s constellation isn’t yet complete and cooperation among the various global systems isn’t very high, Inside GNSS reported recently that the US military is currently looking into incorporating signals from international satellite systems for increased accuracy. read more
