A satellite navigation device, or satnav, is a receiver that determines its geographic position using GPS or another global navigation satellite system, often displaying the user's location on a map and offering turn-by-turn routing, and working in all weather with a clear line of sight to four or more satellites. The United States Navy's Transit system, deployed in 1960 for naval navigation, and the more comprehensive Global Positioning System planned from 1973 established the satellite infrastructure such devices rely on; President Ronald Reagan opened GPS to civilian use in 1983 after the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, though initially with degraded civilian accuracy. Magellan Navigation Inc. unveiled the Magellan NAV 1000 in 1989 as the world's first commercial handheld GPS receiver, selling for about 2,900 dollars, and vehicle navigation followed quickly, with Mazda's Eunos Cosmo becoming the first production car with built-in satellite navigation in 1990; full civilian accuracy arrived in 2000 when the Clinton administration ended the deliberate signal degradation known as Selective Availability.
Facts
SignificanceThe Magellan NAV 1000, the world's first commercial handheld GPS receiver, sold for approximately 2,900 US dollars at launch. 1 Sources
1. Satellite navigation device, Wikipedia
History section, Magellan NAV 1000 unveiling sentence
In 1989, Magellan Navigation Inc. unveiled its Magellan NAV 1000, the world's first commercial handheld GPS receiver.
History section, sentence following the Magellan NAV 1000 introduction
These units initially sold for approximately US$2,900 each.
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