GGOS was first established as a Pilot Project of IAG. This happened during the 2003 IUGG meeting in Japan. In 2004, IAG joint GEO as a Participating Organization, and the IAG delegated representation of IAG in GEO to GGOS. In 2006, GGOS was accepted as Partner in IGOS-P. Due to the development of GEO, IGOS-P has been dissolved in May 2008, and the IGOS Themes have transitioned into GEO Communities of Practice. The brief membership of GGOS in IGOS-P has resulted in many linkages between the Themes and the CoPs and GGOS. GGOS also proposed a task for the GEO Work Plan 2007-2009, which was accepted with the lead organization being IAG. In the frame of this task, the GGOS 2020 community study has been carried out, which resulted in a comprehensive book summarizing the users needs for geodetic observations and products and describing the geodetic observing system that would meet these requirements. In 2007, at the IUGG meeting in Italy, GGOS was elevated from a pilot project to the Observing System of IAG with the status of a full component of IAG. Subsequently, GGOS published calls for proposals for several new components, including a Coordinating Office and three new Bureaus. Finally, it is mentioned that the GGOS 2020 book is in a final review and expected to be published early in 2009.