MilesBuzz! - Where am I? Using GPS/Altimeter inflight

I love to look out the window at the landscape. Trouble is, too often I wish I knew what I was looking at. Is that body of water the Salton Sea? What city are those lights from? Could that be Highway 90?

No doubt some GPS device would help somewhat. In a perfect world, I could match the picture out my window with one on a screen. Failing that, perhaps a map with listings?

Course there's the whole FAA electronics issue. Are GPS's on the banned list?

It would also be nice to know the altitude. Since most changes to that are during the no-devices period of the flight, there may be no solution here (except Ch 9 on United). I understand an altimeter will only work up to around 10K' due to cabin pressurization.

Ideas appreciated.

~BK

Before this gets moved to TravelBuzz - the FAA does not specifically restrict the use of GPS:

http://www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Permitted_Prohibited_7_24_2003.pdf

IIRC, there are some airlines that will not allow them to be used in-flight, so you may want to contact the airline in question first to find out whether they will specifically allow it.

Mike

Just ask the pilot before takeoff. Even if the airline says yes, he can say no.

Only problem I have is getting a signal.

Christian

To get a consistent signal, the GPS pretty much will need to be up against the window for the entire flight.

Have a look at these (older) threads in TravelBuzz:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum11/HTML/003264.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum11/HTML/006100.html

And these in Travel Technology:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum4/HTML/000050.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum4/HTML/000304.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nako:
Before this gets moved</font>

nako, you got it in under the wire. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

As observed, since the topic isn't about miles and points, it doesn't really belong in MilesBuzz and so I will move it to Travel Technology (http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forumcgi/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Travel+Technology&number=4&DaysPrune=5&LastLogin=). The description of that forum is <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Business travel includes cell phones, computers and more. Does that mean just digital cameras are allowed on regular travel? What works where, when and why not. </font>Seems the right place to me.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz and Delta moderator