As the designers and builders of infrastructure; surveyors, engineers and construction contractors know well the benefits gained from a strong infrastructure. Whether transportation, utilities or communication systems, infrastructure constitutes a society’s basic structure, the foundation upon which the growth of a community, state or entire nation depends.

In order to provide seamless navigation to the world aviation community by airport service providers, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted a new strategy on the implementation of Future Air Navigation System (FANS) and use of non-visual aids for approach, and landing. The solution for the above requirements is Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). A stand alone GPS fails to provide the required navigation accuracy for all phases of the flight. Therefore, to achieve the required navigation accuracy, the core constellation i.e. GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo (under planning stage) needs augmentations to fulfill the GNSS, particularly in satellite-based augmentations such as WAAS (USA), EGNOS (Europe), MSAS (Japan), GRAS (Australia) and GAGAN (India). It also includes ICAO’s acceptance of an offer to make the Global Orbiting Navigation Satellites System (GLONASS) available for use by civil aviation. The ICAO Council had earlier accepted a similar offer concerning the GPS. These three satellite constellations (GPS / GLONASS / Galileo) are the key components of the GNSS. This article describes briefly, the different systems including GAGAN (India) and the status of GNSS.

Since Japan is an earthquake prone country with a lot of volcanoes and active faults, Geographic Survey Institute (GSI), the Government of Japan has constructed about 1,200 GPS Fixed Stations called “electronic control points” all over Japan. Since 2003, GSI released GPS data to public through web site. The authors have already checked and confirmed the evidence of early warning for the past big earthquakes such as Tokachi Earthquake (M8.0: 2003.9.26) and Nigata Chu-etsu Earthquake (M6.8: 2004.10.23) which occurred in Hokkaido, north of Japan and middle of Japan respectively. International GPS Service (IGS) provides world wide GPS data at GPS stations located at 10 stations near Indonesia and other Asian regions.