Navigation system
computing system that aids in navigation
A navigation system is a computing system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling (for example, on the ship's bridge) or located elsewhere, making use of radio or other signal transmission to control the vehicle or vessel. In some cases, a combination of these methods is used.
Navigation systems may be capable of one or more of:
containing maps, which may be displayed in human-readable format via text or in a graphical format
determining a vehicle or vessel's location via sensors, maps, or information from external sources
providing suggested directions to a human in charge of a vehicle or vessel via text or speech
providing directions directly to an autonomous vehicle such as a robotic probe or guided missile
providing information on nearby vehicles or vessels, or other hazards or obstacles
providing information on traffic conditions and suggesting alternative directions
simultaneous localization and mapping
acoustic positioning for underwater navigation
The first in-car navigation system available to consumers in 1985 was called Etak Navigation. The company, Etak, was led by engineer Stan Honey and incubated by Nolan Bushnell's Catalyst Technologies in Silicon Valley. Etak held a number of patents and produced digitized maps for the navigation system. The maps were streamed to the navigation system from special tape cassettes. The early digitized maps turned out to be more valuable than the navigation system. The car icon used in Etak Navigation display was a vector-based graphic based on Atari, Inc.'s Asteroids spaceship.
Types of navigation systems
Automotive navigation system
Marine navigation systems using sonar
Satellite navigation system
Global Positioning System, a group of satellites and computers that can provide information on any person, vessel, or vehicle's location via a GPS receiver
GPS navigation device, a device that can receive GPS signals for the purpose of determining the device's location and possibly to suggest or give directions
GLONASS, satellite navigation system run by Russia
Galileo global navigation satellite system
IRNSS, regional satellite system run by India.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Navigation system” is computing system that aids in navigation. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Navigation, system and computing, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3475123. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “Navigation system” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.