The European Union and the United States agreed on Thursday to make the US GPS satellite navigation system and its EU rival Galileo compatible, they said in a joint statement. EU and US experts agreed on plans for a signal, dubbed multiplexed binary offset carrier or MBOC, to be used by both the popular US Global Positioning System and the EU's Galileo system, which is still in development.

In the future, users will be able to receive signals from both systems, which would allow for more precise services and wider geographical coverage.

The military-run GPS, developed in the United States and due to be updated, has long been used in cars, boats and aircraft for positioning as well in mapping, fisheries and scientific research.

Meanwhile, Europe's Galileo system is intended to be a rival to GPS, but it has failed to get off the ground due to cost over-runs and bickering among the private contractors.

A Commission spokesman said the agreement would allow GPS to be more precise even when there was strong interference, allowing it to locate an object to within 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) instead of 10 currently.

Galileo, which is scheduled to be operational in 2012, is supposed to be able to locate an object to within one metre.