Europe's Galileo GPS project reached an important milestone today when a Russian Soyuz rocket blasted a prototype test satellite into space from Kazahistan. In development, the EU has acquired support from the Chinese, Indian, and Israeli governments, representing nearly half of the world's population. The European system will be compatible with Russia's Glonass.

Competing with and complementing operational U.S. technology originally intended for military (positioning and targeting) applications, Europe's system was designed specifically for civilian use and will cost 4.5 billion US dollars to implement. The European Space Agency project will best the current U.S. maintained GPS system which can locate objects within a five meter range and deliver the coordinates for enabled devices down to one meter.

Supporting 150,000 new European jobs, basic navigation services will be provided free, while those in need of guaranteed service will be charged fees. Approximately 30 more satellites are scheduled to be launched by 2010 to complete the project.

Galileo Overview (eu.int)
Principles Of GPS Tutorial (trimble.com, requires Shockwave)