A navigation system is an electronic system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling, or located elsewhere, making use of radio or other signal transmission to control the vehicle or vessel. Navigation systems may be capable of one or more of the following:

• Containing maps, which may be displayed in human-readable format via text or in a graphical format.
• Determining a vehicle or vessels location via sensors, maps, or information from external sources.
• Providing step-by-step directions to a requested destination.
• Using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network to pinpoint the location of a vehicle or vessel anywhere on the globe.

Some examples of navigation systems include GPS navigation devices, GLONASS, Galileo, and IRNSS. GPS is a group of satellites and computers that can provide information on any person, vessel, or vehicles location via a GPS receiver. Surgical navigation systems are used to determine the position of surgical instruments in relation to patient images such as CT or MRI scans. Inertial guidance systems continuously determine the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external reference.

Navigation systems are commonly used in vehicles and mobile devices to provide real-time maps of the current location and step-by-step directions to a requested destination. These systems receive signals from the satellite-based GNSS network, such as GPS, to determine the location of the vehicle or device.