What is Europe's equivalent of GPS?

Answer 1

Galileo is the European equivalent of the US GPS system.

Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) currently being built by the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA).

One of the aims of Galileo is to provide a high-precision positioning system upon which European nations can rely, independently from the Russian GLONASS, US GPS, and Chinese Compass systems, which can be disabled in times of war or conflict.

Because Galileo is a guaranteed system it can be used is safety critical systems, unlike the US GPS and other systems which are all controlled by the military.

Basic navigation services will be free of charge. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical position measurements within 1 metre precision, and better positioning services at high latitudes than other positioning systems. As a further feature, Galileo will provide a unique global search and rescue (SAR) function. Satellites will be equipped with a transponder which will relay distress signals from the user's transmitter to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre, which will then initiate the rescue operation. At the same time, the system will provide a signal to the users, informing them that their situation has been detected and that help is on the way. This latter feature is new and is considered a major upgrade compared to the existing GPS and GLONASS navigation systems.