The International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS): The Story

The primary goal of the International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) is to provide highly accurate orbits, earth rotation parameters, and station coordinates derived from observations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to the geodynamics community, which currently demand the highest accuracy. A further goal is the extension of the IERS Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) for the purpose of global accessibility. The data of the permanent IGS network consisting of about 80 stations are transmitted on a daily basis to regional and global data centers from where they are retrieved by the IGS Analysis Centers.