Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

Chapter 7
WIDESPREAD APPLICATION OF SATELLITE
NAVIGATION AS ONE OF THE CONDITIONS
OF ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN EUROPE
(Monika B¹k)
7.1. Introduction
It is not possible to achieve the goals of sustainable development of transport in
Europe today without widespread use of satellite navigation. This is the kind of
statement which one may be tempted to make when observing what was
planned and what has been achieved in terms of external transport cost reduction,
including congestion and accidents. If the European Union proves unable
to successfully complete its plans with regard to Galileo, the first ever civiliancontrolled
satellite navigation system, the field will be left open to the natural
expansion of the already existing, and dynamically developing, American (GPS)
or Russian (GLONAS) solutions. One must also mention the Chinese expansion
in this market, in the form of their navigation system called BEIDOU, in the first
stage covering China and neighbouring countries, but with the potential to
expand and cover the entire globe. Irrespective of how the implementation
problems are resolved, the perspectives for transport applications of navigation
systems are manifold.
Meanwhile, the European satellite navigation system, Galileo, is implemented
with considerable delay, facing numerous organisational problems. This
is partly due to the ways in which public-private projects work. Indeed, the development
of the Galileo is the responsibility of a consortium including private
companies. It is with great difficulty that the consortium reaches agreement
with regard to management, distribution of work and participation in the costs
of the undertaking.
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