After Korean Air Lines Flight 007 , a Boeing 747 carrying 269 people , was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR 's prohibited airspace , in the vicinity of Sakhalin and Moneron Islands , President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making the United States Global Positioning System of Air Force Space Command , freely available for civilian use , once it was sufficiently developed , as a common good . During the presidency of Bill Clinton the data actually was made available for public use
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Open data in the United States