The Italian GPS Fiducial Network: Services and products

Starting from 1995 new permanent GPS stations have been established in Italy to constitute the Italian GPS Fiducial Network (IGFN), together with the fundamental station in Matera. The present operational stations are: Cagliari, Matera, Medicina, Noto and Venezia, while a new station in Genova is under set-up. The whole data set acquired is collected at Matera Space Geodesy Center (CGS of the Italian Space Agency). Since August 1996, the Matera ASI/CGS has become EUREF Local Analysis Center, taking part in the IGS Pilot Project for densification of the ITRF through regional GPS analysis. The present ASI/CGS contribution consists of weekly solutions of 10 GPS sites providing the coordinates of the 5 stations of the IGFN (mentioned above) plus 5 foreign stations: Ebre, Madrid, San Fernando, Villafranco and Wettzell. In this paper a full description of all the services associated to the IGFN will be given and the results based on 10 months of continuous data analysis will be discussed. Furthermore future developments of the IGFN are outlined and possible applications in studies of regional deformations are shown.