Travel Technology - GPS for newbies

OK, I've read some of the other threads about if it's allowed or not, but beyond that, how do you use GPS in an aircraft ?
Don't you need starting and ending points of reference ?

What (inexpensive) units are decent for this ?

What kind of map system/book do you use to follow along (and map the route) ?

I see all kinds of cities that look like they would be an interesting visit as I look out my window, but I never know what the city is......

OK, I've read some of the other threads about if it's allowed or not, but beyond that, how do you use GPS in an aircraft ?
Don't you need starting and ending points of reference ?

What (inexpensive) units are decent for this ?

What kind of map system/book do you use to follow along (and map the route) ?

I see all kinds of cities that look like they would be an interesting visit as I look out my window, but I never know what the city is......

The GPS unit will sync with at least three and up to 12 satellites to triangulate your position, you do not need to know where you are starting from, the unit will know.

Many GPS units now come with the ability to sore maps within them. I still have a Garmin GPS12 that does not, once you learn to read Lat and Lon, you should be able to tell where you are.

I use a magellan explorist 200, its excellent andhas some basic map for
US (main highways, towns, waterways, parks etc.. ) and basic land and
water for the rest of the world.

http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/product.asp?PRODID=1015

I use it to travel all over the globe, and its been great!

only draw back is the battery. it uses 2 AA batteries that
lasts about 16 hours.

This was about $130 over a year ago. you can get a higher model
thats color and rechargeable.

www.newegg.com is a good place to buy these things

OK, I've read some of the other threads about if it's allowed or not, but beyond that, how do you use GPS in an aircraft ?
Don't you need starting and ending points of reference ?

What (inexpensive) units are decent for this ?

What kind of map system/book do you use to follow along (and map the route) ?

I see all kinds of cities that look like they would be an interesting visit as I look out my window, but I never know what the city is......

You apparently misunderstand how GPS works. At it's heart it's a system to find your position very accurately. It does *NOT* do this relative to where it was before, each calculation is all but independant of the last (the only dependancy is the satellite correction data it downloaded during initialization.) one. Turn on a GPS receiver, wait through it's initialization and it tells you where it is.

Normally GPS receivers also have stuff integrated that displays where you've been but that's bells and whistles, at it's simplest it gives you latitude, longitude, altitude and time. (Note that it might not display the time. It does compute it with great accuracy, though. A GPS reciever is the most accurate timepiece around for consumer use.)

For a GPS receiver to give any answer it needs to lock onto 4 satellites, if it finds more it gives a better answer. Each satellite is broadcasting it's correction data every 30 seconds, a lockon (for a civilian unit) requires getting this correction data. Multi-channel receivers can acquire multiple satellites at once and will do a bit better if you are moving quickly--if you're simply trying to figure out what city is below you it doesn't matter if the answer isn't quite as good as it could be.

(Taken from gpsinformation.net)

The Airlines which OFFICIALLY APPROVE the use of GPS receivers during CRUISE
This actually means pilot discretion in all cases.

Aer Lingus (Irish, as of April 2005)
Air Canada
Air New Zealand
Air Malaysia
Air Tanzania
Alitalia (Italy)
Braathens (owned by SAS) Norway
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
CAAC (China Airlines, Mainland China)
Continental Airlines (as of April 2005, changed AGAIN! These folks change twice a year.)
CrossAir
Delta Airlines
EasyJet (Europe)
Egypt Air
FinnAir (as of May 2003)
First Choice Airlines (UK) (If No, ask staff to check flight manual)
Frontier Airlines(as of December 2004)
Icelandair
Jet Airways (India)
KLM (Flight operations book under rule 120.8.5)
LOT Polish Airlines
Maersk Air (Denmark)
MidWest Express (USA)
Nationwide Airlines (South Africa)
NorthWest Airlines (Flight operations book under rule 120.8.5)
Qantas
Precision Air (Tanzania)
Reno Airlines
Ryanair (Irish)
Singapore Air Lines
SAS (flip-flopped again as of 2/2/04)
SN Brussels Airlines (as of 11/25/03 per <KTeirbroodt@brusselsairlines.com>
South African Airways
Southwest Airlines
Sun Country (Regional USA)
Swiss (Was Swissair and CrossAir)
Tunis Air
United Air Lines (may ask if your GPS is FCC Class B approved. All handhelds are. Show them in the manual.)
US Airways (was US Air)
Vanguard Airlines
Virgin Airlines
WestJet Airlines (Canada)

Airlines which OFFICIALLY DO NOT APPROVE the use of GPS receivers at ANY time during flight.
(*) Individual Pilots may allow GPS use. (It never hurts to ask the pilot on any flight. Oftentimes, cabin attendants say NO automatically. If the cabin attendant says "no" respectfully ask them to make your request to the pilot.)
Alaska Airlines (as of 04/01, Yep, they changed AGAIN)
Air Tran
America West Airlines
American Airlines (as of 21 July 2000)
Britannia Airlines (as of May 2003)
El Al Airlines (Israel)
Hawaiian Airlines(*)
Horizon Airlines(*)
Iberia Airlines(*)
JetBlue Airways (USA, as of January 2004)(*)
Lufthansa Airlines
Mexicana airlines
Midway Express
Monarch Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Transavia (Dutch)
Varig Airlines

Take a few extra minutes to understand the specifics of GPS receiver use while in-flight.
http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm