Document and Entity Information	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Nov. 06, 2014 Class A Common Stock	Nov. 06, 2014 Class B Common Stock
Document and Entity Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2014
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2014
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Trading Symbol	TSYS
Entity Registrant Name	TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS INC /FA/
Entity Central Index Key	0001111665
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		54,753,669	4,901,245