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GPS during a Flight?

smguy101

smguy101

Member
Hey guys is there an application that allows to use your Droid on a plane as a GPS? Say like I want to use Google Maps to see where I'm at, but since the Maps are over the air it would not be possible so I would need to have the maps saved on my phone?
 
1. You will not get GPS to work on an airplane.
2. It will not be able to show the speed you will be travelling with.
 
Szadzik said:
1. You will not get GPS to work on an airplane.
2. It will not be able to show the speed you will be travelling with.
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Are you really sure about that? Air Canada has in flight positioning on a live map and I can only see it working via GPS. Certainly you don't have a topside view of the satellites that the plane has but I would think it might still be possible.

Anyone confirm on way or the other if this is possible?
 
Yes, GPS works during a flight.

I used the GPS on my N95 in 2007 on my flight to Nokiaworld. Takes a long time to get a fix given the speed you're travelling and not using A-GPS, but the results were quite impressively accurate compared to what was on the ships displays.
 
GPS will work on a flight. I used My Tracks on a flight from Baltimore to Providence and it logged the flight path and speed stats. Also, I was able to add pushpins to the track when I would see something of interest on the ground and I was able to later browse the track on Google Maps and find out what I was looking at.
 
jp0469 said:
GPS will work on a flight. I used My Tracks on a flight from Baltimore to Providence and it logged the flight path and speed stats. Also, I was able to add pushpins to the track when I would see something of interest on the ground and I was able to later browse the track on Google Maps and find out what I was looking at.
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Baltimore eh? I live about 10 minutes NW of there. Small world. I'm flying out of BWI to Boston Logan this weekend, I'll try it and post results here.
 
So can I assume, for those using GPS on a plane, that you are keeping your phone on under 10,000 feet? Do you also have airplane mode turned on?

jp0469, that is an excellent use of technology!
 
Colchicine said:
So can I assume, for those using GPS on a plane, that you are keeping your phone on under 10,000 feet? Do you also have airplane mode turned on?

jp0469, that is an excellent use of technology!
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Altitude has nothing to do with it, that's a myth. Cell phone use doesn't interfear at all.
 
Colchicine said:
So can I assume, for those using GPS on a plane, that you are keeping your phone on under 10,000 feet? Do you also have airplane mode turned on?

jp0469, that is an excellent use of technology!
Click to expand...

I didn't do any tracking outside of the time when it is safe to operate electronic devices so there was no data for take off and landing. Also, phone stays in airplane mode the whole time.
 
Szadzik said:
1. You will not get GPS to work on an airplane.
2. It will not be able to show the speed you will be travelling with.
Click to expand...
Really? You do realize that there are aircraft fitted with GPS (for the pilot), right?

A lot of people seem to confuse "GPS app" and "GPS receiver". They're 2 separate things. The receiver will work just fine on an airplane. All it needs is the ability to get a fix from the GPS satellites. It's the app that may or may not need data (depending on the specific app in question).

If the receiver can get a fix in two or more locations then the app should be able to calculate speed. It's simple math. Speed = distance / time.
 
It will work, but I question it's legality. Yes, I know it has no effect on the plane, but it's still illegal. They made me turn off my wireless Kindle on the flight. I even had the wireless turned off, but they still made me turn it off. I have no clue how an e-reader with wireless turned off could possibly interfere with flight instruments even in a theoretical way, but apparently it can. Strangely enough, I was allowed to have my phone turned on as long as it was in airplane mode. Kindle must be off though.
 
A.Nonymous said:
It will work, but I question it's legality. Yes, I know it has no effect on the plane, but it's still illegal. They made me turn off my wireless Kindle on the flight. I even had the wireless turned off, but they still made me turn it off. I have no clue how an e-reader with wireless turned off could possibly interfere with flight instruments even in a theoretical way, but apparently it can. Strangely enough, I was allowed to have my phone turned on as long as it was in airplane mode. Kindle must be off though.
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It's not illegal, turn off cellular data, but wifi is perfectly legal. A lot of airlines even have in flight wifi now...
 
agentfaze said:
Any free apps out there for in-flight GPS?
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RMaps (free, on the market) allows you to compile and download maps onto your phone so you can use them later without access to the network (ie airplane mode). It's a bit cumbersome and tedious, but if you really want FREE and you really want airplane mode, this is about it.

I haven't been able to actually use it tho because of the crummy GPS on Epic, but that should get worked out soon.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/rmaps/com.robert.maps
 
But would my standard Android Navigation app, which is excellent in the car, also work on a plane with in-flight Wifi? Or would the rate of change (speed) be too much for the phone's CPU/display to keep up with?
 
If you have in-flight wi-fi, I'd recommend Flightview free. I used it recently to track a flight I was on.
 
Szadzik said:
1. You will not get GPS to work on an airplane.
2. It will not be able to show the speed you will be travelling with.
Click to expand...
Here is my speed and altitude on a recent domestic flight on a 737-800

Enroute.png
 
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