Galileo: An Alternate GPS

In December Europe launched the first of thirty so called Galileo satellites from Kazakhstan. This new system, set to be fully in place by 2010, will compete with, indeed improve upon, the current Global Positioning System (GPS), public version, provided free by the U.S. military, which is good for locating objects on the earth's surface to a distance of about 10 metres. Galileo will allow navigation capabilities to be enhanced and location accuracy will jump to within a metre. The probability anywhere on earth of receiving four satellite signals simultaneously, necessary for accuracy, should now surpass 90%. Orbit is 23,200 km above the earth.
Source; The Times, London, Thursday, December 29th, 2005.