While India is admittedly a latecomer in developing an indigenous satellite navigation system, it is still a major step forward as only a handful of countries have made it to the elite club so far. In case you are not aware, India has announced its autonomous satellite navigation system to the public after 7 years of rigorous development, testing and evaluation. Starting this year, you can have commercial smartphones, exercise bands and vehicles with the NavIC positioning system. In a way it will replace GPS, and it will be fascinating to watch, at least in India. So if you want to learn what NavIC is and how it's better than GPS, go through our point-by-point explanation.
What is NavIC and how is it better than GPS
Before we get into the technicalities, let's first know what NavIC stands for. Short for Navigation with Indian Constellation, NavIC is a popular moniker among the public for India's GPS alternative. Actually the name of the project is IRNSS which is developing into Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. By now you may have a vague idea of the purpose of NavIC but let me explain thoroughly.
NavIC is a regional satellite navigation system built by India for India. It is designed by ISRO for accurate real-time positioning, timing services and messaging. Basically, it is an alternative to GPS (Global Positioning System) which is developed and operated by the USA. The main difference between NavIC and GPS is that the former is built primarily for India including some neighboring countries while GPS (US) offers coverage of all regions around the world.
The reason India built its own navigation system is to limit its over-dependence on American technology. Other countries have already deployed their own satellite navigation systems and now India has made NavIC operational after 7 years of rigorous testing and development. To give you some examples, Russia operates GLONASS which is a global navigation system; China has BeiDou which is a regional navigation system just like India; Europe has Galileo which is a global navigation system and so on. While India is currently focusing on its region and neighboring neighbours, ISRO plans to expand its coverage area around the world in the coming years.
