Google Latitude + Gogo Inflight = cool

On 17 March I was travelling on a US domestic flight from Dallas to New York (AA718, Boeing MD-80). The plane had onboard wifi internet access from Gogo Inflight Internet. My mobile phone, a Google Nexus One, had GPS reception and sent its location to the Google servers via Google Maps and Google Latitude. Latitude is a Google protocol for sharing your location with selected contacts. I had configured my Latitude account to story my location history.

All these components gave this result: a map with the flight path of AA718 on a map.



How does Gogo Inflight work? Not via a satellite connection, but via transceivers on the ground with which the plane makes contact when at cruising altitude.




Picture of GPS reception on the Nexus One on another flight, this time over the Atlantic.