Facts about GPS Navigation Systems History
- 05
Ivan Getting and Bradford Parkinson are widely credited as key architects of GPS, with Parkinson leading the consolidation of competing military navigation programs into a unified system in the 1970s.
- 04
Russia operates its own independent satellite navigation system called GLONASS, which became fully operational in 1995 and remains a global GPS alternative.
- 03
NAVSTAR, the original U.S. military satellite navigation program that became GPS, launched its first prototype satellite in 1978.
- 02
Selective Availability, a deliberate degradation of GPS accuracy for civilian users, was switched off by President Clinton in May 2000, improving civilian accuracy from roughly 100 meters to under 20 meters.
- 01
The GPS constellation reached full operational capability in 1995, when the U.S. Department of Defense declared the system fully operational with 24 satellites.