First public satellite navigation system

The US government established a Global Positioning System (GPS) as a fully operational network in the 1980s with a series of Earth-orbiting satellites. It was not until 1996, however, that the network was made available to the general public by permission of US President Bill Clinton. He established the Interagency GPS Executive Board (IGPSEB) to control the release of information that allowed public applications of GPS. Despite lower accuracy than military versions, the system has become a global success with current SatNav systems, tablets and mobile phones all using the network. There is no accurate date for it to go live as the system was already live. It took the whole of 1996 for the information to percolate.