- What is the difference between GPS jamming and GPS spoofing?
Jamming drowns out the very weak satellite signals with radio noise on the same frequencies, so receivers lose their position or fall back to less accurate sources. Spoofing broadcasts fake satellite signals so receivers calculate a wrong position or time, often while still appearing to work normally. Spoofing is often combined with jamming, which first knocks receivers off the real signals. Both affect GPS and the other satellite systems (Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou), together called GNSS.
- How is this map made?
From the position accuracy that aircraft report about themselves over ADS-B. Each aircraft broadcasts a Navigation Accuracy Category for Position (NACp); a value of 7 or lower means its navigation system is unsure of its position by 0.05 nautical miles or more, which usually means it has lost good GPS. The map groups aircraft into hexagons and colours each by the share of aircraft that reported low accuracy in the last 24 hours. The methodology has the details.
- How often does the map update? Is it real-time?
It is not real-time. New aircraft data is collected about every 3 hours, and each update covers the 24 hours before it. The time of the latest update is shown on the map and on each page. Interference that starts or stops is reflected within a few hours, but a hexagon can stay coloured for up to 24 hours after interference ends.
- What do the colours mean?
Each hexagon's colour is the share of aircraft in it that reported low GPS accuracy at least once in the last 24 hours: green under 3%, yellow 3% to 10%, red over 10%. Hexagons with fewer than 3 aircraft are not drawn.
- Does a red hexagon mean GPS is being jammed there?
Not necessarily. A large area of red is a strong sign of interference nearby, but a single red hexagon can come from one aircraft with faulty equipment in a quiet area. The map shows where affected aircraft were, which can be hundreds of kilometres from the transmitter, and it cannot tell jamming from spoofing or say who is responsible. See the limitations.
- Why is the Baltic Sea region so affected?
Interference around the Baltic has been widely reported since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and governments in the region attribute it to Russia: in 2026, Lithuania's communications regulator said the number of Russian spoofing antennas had grown from three to 36 since early 2025 (Foreign Policy, June 2026), and 13 EU member states wrote to the European Commission about rising interference in June 2025 (AeroTime, April 2026). The map shows the effect on aircraft; it cannot itself identify the source. See the Baltic Sea page for today's figures.
- Why are the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East affected?
Aviation authorities list the eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Iraq and Iran among the high-risk areas for interference (AeroTime, April 2026), and reporting links it to the conflicts there, with Israel, Iran and others jamming and spoofing signals (Foreign Policy, June 2026). Today's figures are on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East pages.
- Why are some areas of the map empty?
The data comes from volunteers' ground receivers shared through adsb.lol and adsb.fi. Areas with few receivers, much of the oceans, Africa and parts of Asia, or with few civil flights, have too little data: a hexagon needs at least 3 aircraft to be drawn. An empty area means no data, not no interference.
- Is GPS interference dangerous for flights?
Airliners are designed to keep flying safely without GPS, using inertial navigation, ground radio beacons and air traffic control, and crews are trained for it. Interference still adds workload and can disable systems that rely on GPS, such as some terrain warnings. Reported incidents are rising sharply, according to IATA's safety reporting (RTÉ, April 2026). In the United States, investigators confirmed that a military jamming exercise disrupted a medical plane's GPS before it crashed in New Mexico in May 2026; the cause of the crash is still under investigation (ABC News, August 2026).
- Does the map show interference to ships, cars or phones?
No. It only uses reports from aircraft in flight. Ships, vehicles and phones in the same areas are often affected too, but they are not measured here. Aircraft are useful sensors because they fly high, where they can receive interference from far away, and report their accuracy continuously.
- Can I embed the map on my site?
Yes, it is free to share and embed. Paste this where the map should appear:
<iframe src="https://gpsinterference.com/embed" width="640" height="400" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:960px" loading="lazy" title="Live GPS interference map"></iframe> <p>Live map: <a href="https://gpsinterference.com/">GPS Interference</a></p>
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