In case you want to know your altitude above sea level, select "your location" and it'll be part of the display.

 

you can also press the "A" symbol used to show your car. THen it displays the lat, long and elavation.

 

For those who don't know, you can also push the screen icon that indicates your position on the road (the circle with the red Acura symbol) to get your current latitude, longitude, and altitude.

 

Sorry for accidently posting the same info, 04TLMan ... You were first!

 

I forgot how many satellites our Navi system needs in order to generate those latitude/longitude/altitude info.

3 or 4(I guess)? Anyone could confirm this?

Thanks.

 

rets -

You need a minimum of 4 satellites to pinpoint your position, since all the satellites are not in the same plane (level) you are sitting at. You are located basically at the intersection of four (3-dimensional, of course!) spheres.

However, the altitude component of most GPS receivers is pretty inaccurate. I don't know why. I know that I get over 100 feet of "drift" with my home GPS receiver that is sitting still, even if I have more than 4 satellites locked.

Of course, the more satellites you have position from, the better.

Anyone interested can read more about GPS here: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps1.htm

Cheers!

 

My brother-in-law has a handheld GPS that we had brought on a family vacation in Illinois. We were walking on the spillway of a dam that had the foot marks on the side of it. The GPS was accurate to the foot!

I was quite impressed with it's accuracy. I wish our navi's were that accurate.

 

When I touch the Acura symbol representing the car I do get long and lat but the altitude is blank. I know I am nnot at sea level. Am I missing something? Does the altitude only display altitude differences from your home location or from sea level?

 

From sea level. You may need more satellites to get the altitude info. I see it when I press my icon.